Former Kent batsman Joe Denly told KSN how he was pleased to have starred as the Middlesex Panthers beat the Spitfires in the T20 on Tuesday night.

The 26 year old opening batsman fired an unbeaten 90 for the Panthers to help them to a 48 run win over the Spitfires at Canterbury with Paul Stirling hitting a blistering 63 off just 37 balls.

The Panthers amassed 207 for 2 in their 20 overs with the Spitfires losing four wickets in four balls on their way to 159 for 7 in reply.

For Denly, it was his first game back at Canterbury since his winter move to Middlesex and he was pleased to have been able to contribute in front of some familiar faces:

“It was nice to be back and playing once again at the St Lawrence Ground. It was good to see everyone and I loved coming back here as I’ve got a lot of memories here and I enjoyed it.”

“Paul Stirling made my job a lot easier at the other end as he was incredible with pretty much every ball going for four or six. He probably deserved the man of the match to be fair as he also bowled well and took a couple of good catches.”

It was Denly that picked up the coveted Man of the Match award though from former England captain Michael Atherton for his controlled innings and the former Kent man told KSN his ninety came from playing in his own style:

“I’m not really a very good slogger, so I try and keep as much shape as I can and just try and time the ball.”

“I’ve had to learn to try and keep as much shape I can as I’m not one of those that can smack it over the ropes from ball one. I have had to try and work out what the best way is to play for me and I think I’ve found a good way of doing that, so it’s just a case of trying to do that every game.”

“I’ve had a good start for Middlesex, I’m really enjoying it and in the last couple of games I’ve found a bit of form, so hopefully I can continue that for the rest of the games.”

Posting 207 for 2 was Middlesex’s highest ever score in Twenty 20 and Denly explained after the game that he thought that the Spitfires would struggle to chase down such a mammoth score:

“It’s a great score in T20 and we needed a good score as Kent have got a really strong batting line up, they bat pretty much all the way down and they’ve got some very dangerous players.”

“Having Eoin Morgan and Steve Finn in the side helped as they are world class players, so it was great to have them, but it will be a shame that we lose them now for a little while.”

Denly has had a taste of International cricket with England and despite playing well in front of the Sky cameras, he is putting thoughts of a return to the international scene to the back of his mind:

“It’s always nice to get runs, whether it be on TV or not, to do it with the cameras here was pleasing, but I think England is still a long way off. For me, it’s about scoring runs for Middlesex and hopefully England then won’t be too far away.”

Main picture by Sarah Ansell. To see more of Sarah’s pictures visit www.sarahcanterbury.com