Denly will find 20 runs are worth 100 in toxic opening role
England batsman is stepping into a job that is as hard as it was in 19th Century Ashes
It is not even a poisoned chalice. Opening the batting in this Ashes series is nothing better than a toxic mug, for mugs. Batting, basically, is as hard now as it was in the Ashes series of the 19th Century, and opening is the most difficult part when the ball is new and hard. In three Tests so far, only once has an Australia opening batsman reached 20.
For England, Jason Roy has averaged nine. Yet Joe Denly has accepted Joe Root’s invitation to open in the fourth Test, starting tomorrow at Old Trafford. Denly, aged 33, is relaxed and mature enough to spare a team-mate another draught of the toxic mug, and allow Roy to drop to four.
By the standards of today, Denly is well qualified to open for England, in that he has done it before, once.
He frequently opened in the County Championship, too, for Kent rather than Middlesex, until 2015. Since then, he has done it in one innings, but still, times change: a novice Test opener such as Rory Burns is a relative veteran, and scoring 20 is the new century.
Denly’s only Test as an opener was inauspicious in that he could have made a pair, or maybe it was auspicious in that he did not. For the second Test against West Indies in Antigua, he replaced Keaton Jennings – why was Jennings selected for that spring tour, instead of giving Roy a go? – and had the pleasure of facing Kemar Roach and Shannon Gabriel with a new Dukes ball on a spicy pitch.
First time round, after missing a couple of airy cover drives which could be ascribed to nerves on his Test debut, Denly was given not out lbw to Gabriel, West Indies reviewed, and he survived because not enough of the ball was going to hit leg stump. Second time, he hooked Roach to long leg and was dropped by Kraigg Brathwaite. Instead of a pair, Denly began with six and 17, as England lost by 10 wickets.
When Denly, at four, assisted Joe Root in their century stand at Headingley, he had early luck when throwing the bat – the cover drive his prime
strength and weakness – without connecting. Mitchell Starc, assuming he replaces James Pattinson, will bowl a fuller and, therefore, more drivable length than any Australian pace bowler to date in this series; and whether Denly can protect Root at No 3 will depend in large part on the quality of his shot selection.
But Denly fought hard in that second innings at Headingley, and rode the hit on his helmet. For the first time in his international career he hacked out some ugly runs – a dogged 50, not the usual flowery 20.
Southerners have been booed while batting for England at Headingley, but the crowd welcomed Denly and his newfound obduracy, which prepared the ground for Ben Stokes by grinding down Australia’s three fast bowlers.
Should Denly and Burns survive Starc, the short balls are bound to fly, as both have been ducking into the short ball more than swaying back. Burns began so assuredly with his Edgbaston century, but his returns have been sharply diminishing. Hooking is not much of an option at the recently realigned Old Trafford, with its extended square boundaries: the shot is hardly worth the risk if it fetches one run, not four or six.
Batting was hard in the 1997 Ashes, when the average for the series was also 28 runs per wicket, but it was hard for England alone, as they had to cope with Glenn Mcgrath and Shane Warne. It was tough in 1981 for Australia, as they tended to collapse every time Ian Botham said “Boo”.
In 1972, Bob Massie swung it like a boomerang, and in the 1950s the Australians did not know how to play forward to an off-break with bat and pad together.
In general, though, batting has not been so awkward since the First World War.
Let us make allowances for the openers, therefore, as they tackle the all-singing, all-dancing new ball, and if one of them reaches 20, he should remove his helmet, and raise his bat or arms, to be saluted like a centurion.