Joe Denly

Joe Denly made his England white-ball debuts at the tail end of the 2000s and then endured close to a decade in the wilderness before making a comeback, which included a Test debut when he was nearly 33.

Three years before that, Denly made a prolific return to Kent, making shedloads of runs and taking plenty of wickets across formats, and was named the Professional Cricketers' Association's Players' Player of the Year, marking a renaissance. Promotion to Division One and a Royal London Cup final confirmed Kent's resurgence, and Denly was at its heart.

It was an extraordinary turnaround. First capped in 2009 after consistent one-day form, Denly looked promising, though vulnerable against the moving ball, averaging under 30 in his first nine ODIs before drifting out of the England frame. Four of his first seven County Championship seasons yielded over 800 runs apiece, but he seemed to fall away in the mid-2010s. Returning to his home county, Kent, in 2015, proved briefly transformative. Seasons of heavy scoring followed, including 14 centuries across formats in 2017 and 2018, while his legspin matured from novelty to genuine option.

That resurgence earned him his England recall after eight and a half years. He took 4 for 19 in his first T20I back, and was the player of the match. When he made his Test debut the following year, he was the oldest specialist batter to do so for England in nearly 25 years. Though not always convincing, he showed versatility and grit, notably in the 2019 Ashes, where he made three fifties against a formidable Australia attack, including a battling 94 at The Oval.

The international stint was short-lived - Denly missed out on World Cup selection and lost his Test place during the pandemic reshuffle - but he left a mark as a resilient late bloomer who fought his way back into the side.

In the years that followed he remained a central figure for Kent, contributing over 200 runs and 11 wickets to their 2021 T20 Blast-winning campaign, and featuring in the Hundred with London Spirit.