Batsman Joe Denly has told KSN of his delight at returning to Kent Cricket and hasn’t ruled out captaining the side in the future.

The 28 year old returned to Canterbury a couple of weeks ago, penning a deal that will see him back where it all started after a three year spell with Middlesex.

Denly opted to make the move to Lord’s to see if he could kick start his international career after being capped by England, but returns to Kent looking to reignite his county career after an indifferent season with Middlesex.

Set to fight it out for a place in the Kent top six, Denly is glad to be back amongst friends and can’t wait for the season to start again in April:

“We’re looking to move back to Kent as soon as we can and should be back by January as we’ve made an offer on a flat we like.”

“That all takes time, but I’m looking forward to being back training with the boys and being on home turf again.”

“It’s brilliant to be back and Jimmy (Adams) has done really well in the three years he has been there. I’m really looking forward to working with him and it’s good that Keysey is there as captain.”

“With the likes of Matt Walker back as batting coach, it’s brilliant for the club and I’m really looking forward to working with guys like him, Min Patel and Mark Ealham.”

It’s no secret that Key and Denly are good friends and have stayed in regular contact over the past three years with Denly admitting talk of returning to Kent had been the topic of conversation for a little while:

“During the season Kent were aware I wasn’t playing an awful lot of cricket with Middlesex and got in touch with them about coming to some sort of agreement.”

“I have been in touch with Keysey ever since I left Kent and it didn’t take much persuading with the circumstances I had at Middlesex. It felt right and Kent is always going to be my home.”

“It’s the club I grew up at and have always enjoyed playing there.”

Now back and keen to compete for a place in all formats of the game, Denly is hoping he can find a slot that helps out the side:

“I’m hoping to contribute wheverer they see me in the batting order and in my time at Middlesex I quite enjoyed batting in the middle order in the red ball stuff.”

“It’s different and quite refreshing. In the white ball stuff I enjoy being as close to the top of the order as I can, but we will have to see what the plans are going forward.”

Despite being away for the past three seasons, Denly knows most of his new team-mates having played with or against most over his career:

“I think it’s only Brendan Nash that I haven’t played with or against. All the others like Ben Harmison, Mitch Claydon and David Griffiths, I have played with or against them in age group cricket.”

“All of the young lads there now were coming through when I was playing there before, so it’s now a case of just getting involved and enjoying it.”

Now one of the elder statesmen of the side, Denly is hoping he can impart some of his experience on the younger guys coming through and is looking forward to taking on a mentor role:

“It’s something I am really open to and if any of the young lads want any help, I’d be happy to help.”

As for captaining the side in the long run, Denly admitted it wasn’t something he had really considered:

“It’s not something I’ve really thought about. I’m pretty inexperienced when it comes to captaining. I did it a bit when I was playing for the Middlesex Second team and quite enjoyed it.”

“In regards to captaining Kent, who knows? I wouldn’t say no, but Keysey’s got a couple of years left in him, so we will see what happens after that.”

Having played for England before, Denly admits he has one eye on getting back into the international set up, but it’s not something he is really pondering at the moment:

“I’d love to play for England again, but that’s a long way off really and I’m just looking forward to getting stuck in with Kent and trying to establish myself in their first team and score lots of runs for them.”

“Who knows what will happen in the future? My main focus is solely scoring runs for Kent.”

With so much exciting young talent at Kent, Denly stated how he believes he could still learn so much from the likes of Sam Billings:

“It’s unbelievable some of the shots these young guys come up with and watching Sam against us he turned into a left handed batsman and pulled one of our fast bowlers over square leg for six.”

“He’s obviously got an abundance of talent and I can learn from guys like that. These young guys coming through are playing some outrageous shots, so it would be good to get in the mix and try to copy what they do.”

With the redevelopment work at Beckenham happening at pace, Denly is looking forward to revisiting a ground he loves playing at:

“I’ve grown up playing a lot of age group cricket there and it’s always been a really good wicket to bat on. I’m glad they are looking to bring it in and I’m looking forward to playing some games there.”

The highlight of the summer of 2015 will see the touring Australian side kick off the Ashes tour with a game against Kent at Canterbury and Denly is looking forward to staking his claim to pit his wits against the Aussies:

“It’s always a good chance for any county side to show what they can do against any touring team and with it being Australia it will add a bit more spice.”

“Hopefully I can put myself in the frame to be playing in that, but I’m sure there will be a lot of guys wanting to play in that and showcase their skills against one of the top teams in the world.”