Batsman Joe Denly is excited about the future of Kent Cricket after an encouraging season.

The 29 year old made his return to the Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence at the start of the season having spent three years with Middlesex and had an immediate impact on his return to Kent, adding experience and runs at the top of the order in all formats.

Having settled straight back into life in Canterbury, Denly feels the past season has been a positive one for Kent and believes there is a bright future ahead with so many talented players coming through the system:

“I’m pretty happy with the way we finished the season, I’m looking forward to a long hard winter and already looking forward to next year.”

“I am reasonably happy with how the season went for me, it could have been better if I had converted some of those fifties into hundreds, but overall I am happy considering the squad we have and how young it is.”

“I’m very excited about the future for the club and I said at the start of the season that it might not happen straight away with how young the squad is, but with the talent we have in the changing room, I do believe the next two or three years could be pretty exciting.”

One thing that was missing for Kent over the summer was an overseas signing, but Denly doesn’t necessarily believe it will make the difference:

“Hopefully there are some funds in the kitty to potentially get an overseas player, but with the way things have gone this year, who knows?”

“We might no opt for an overseas considering how well the lads have performed, but it would be a good option to have.”

Both Sam Billings and Daniel Bell-Drummond will have a taste of international cricket over the coming months with Billings selected for the T20 and One Day International squads against Pakistan, whilst Bell-Drummond is part of the Lions set up this winter.

With both players having come on in recent seasons, Denly is hoping the pair have the chance to shine, but feels one more Kent player should be with them:

“It’s brilliant for them. They really have deserved their selections and hopefully they can have really good winters.”

“Sam is obviously in the Lions and both the One Day and T20 squads, so hopefully he can get a chance in them and heopfully Deebz gets a chance to show what a great young player he is.”

“I would say it has been very tough on Sam Northeast not to have been selected in any of the squads considering the season he had, but I am sure he has got a point to prove now.”

As for Denly’s plans over the winter months, the batmsan is hoping to get some time in the middle sowmehere around the world before the new season starts again in April:

“I will look to get away and hopefully play a bit pre-Christmas and then in the New Year I might go and play two or three weeks of cricket leading up to the season, but with the schedule we have coming up next year and the way it has been this year, I think it is important to remain pretty fresh.”

“The schedule isn’t too bad for myself just being a batter, although fielding for fifty overs and the four day game can be tiring, but it is a pretty tough schedule especially if you are a bowler.”

“It is something that needs to be looked at, but we have best part of six months off to get ourselves and our bodies right for that schedule and we’ve been able to keep ourselves pretty fit this year.”

Reflecting on a season that saw Kent come close to progressing to both the Twenty 20 Finals Day and the Royal London one Day Cup semi-finals, Denly feels there are plenty of highlights for a side that’s going places:

“It would have been great to have won some silverware, but I think the way we performed throughout the Twenty 20 competition with such a young team and no overseas player has to be the highlight.”

“There are a few individual performances that I can pick out, Matt Coles getting a hundred wickets in all competitions, Sam Northeast scoring two thousand plus runs and that game at Somerset I suppose has to be the stand out in the Twenty 20.”

“Sam scoring his hundred and Chris Gayle getting his 150 were highlights and my dropped catch will probably haunt me forever!”

“Luckily we got over the line, but all in all it has been an encouraging season.”