With a gentle tap and push, Denly makes his mark
Progress sometimes requires a gentle push, a persistent nudge at any barrier to entry, softly, patiently. On other occasions the only way forward is through banging the door down, one big statement and a call to arms. The only difficulty is deciding which path to take. We get it wrong on occasion. So do England.
Yesterday, however, belatedly, perhaps too late and only once a calamity had knocked them to their senses, England’s good judgment arrived. There was no grand entrance, no wide slash outside off, but a gentle tap on the door, then a push, through the covers for four, as Joes Denly and Root made themselves known.
England’s two most experienced batters put on only their second century partnership this series.
One was forced, through the weight of talent alone, to forge that experience in the Test arena, Joe Root’s 83 Tests eclipsed by Stuart Broad alone in this England side. The other, however, the elder statesman, senior to Broad by 100 days, has more experience in all. Joe Denly’s noninternational first-class tally soars in at 195, 79 more than the next best, Rory Burns. It is not the same as Test cricket! But the ball is, and the bat, the pitch. And the temperament, too. It is
a handy template. Denly and Broad are at the opposite stage of their Test careers. After a 384 consecutive match-hiatus between England appearances, Denly is, in our eyes, far younger in cricket years.
He is not though, really. His cricket years are just as vast, but not in the spotlight. And that, truthfully, suits Denly just fine. “It has only been brief, but I’ve been very lucky to be fair,” said the Kent player in March 2018, plucked from a winter of Sydney grade cricket, to blitz the BBL, as Sydney Sixers’ replacement player.
It was the same season Jofra Archer burst onto the scene, another replacement player. Denly, shrugged in the shadows. “I’m sure that when I did first sign, a few of the lads might have been wondering what this signing was all about.”
Most of England did too on his maiden Test bow. Without Denly’s scaffolding, it is difficult to imagine Root’s foundations would have withstood the battering.
Because Root never had the county grounding former England captains once had. He can call Headingley home, if he wants, but he has only ever played 31 first-class matches in Yorkshire. This naivety has shown this series, Root’s captaincy questioned, his mind preoccupied, his skills let down. So Denly yesterday was the guide Root desperately sought, a guest in Root’s home but the wise old man of red-ball cricket.