Joe Denly has been handed an unexpected chance to resume his England one-day career more than nine years after his last cap, following an injury to Liam Dawson.
Denly’s call-up comes after slow left-armer Dawson was ruled out of the remaining three ODI’s against Sri Lanka as well as a stand-alone Twenty20.
He sustained a right side strain while helping England to a 1-0 lead in Dambulla on Saturday and will now fly home rather than continue pressing his case for a place at next summer’s World Cup.
While Dawson muses on the misfortune of breaking down on one of the few trips where England countenance playing three spinners, the resurgent Denly is preparing to seize an unlikely opportunity having made the last of his nine 50-over appearances in October 2009.
Pakistan v England (T20), Dubai, February 2010
— PA Sport (@pasport) October 15, 2018
That's the last time Joe Denly played for England.
After his Test call he has now been called up to the ODI squad to replace the injured Liam Dawson 👏 pic.twitter.com/tfLgboXMvB
The 32-year-old was already due to join the tour for the three-match Test series, his first, but will now arrive in Kandy on Wednesday morning, a matter of hours before the third match of the series.
When he last wore the Three Lions, Denly was a specialist top-order batsman whose wrist-spin was considered strictly part-time – although his solitary over on the international stage did yield the wicket of South Africa captain Graeme Smith.
Yet his bowling has come on to such an extent, with 57 wickets in all formats for Kent last summer, that he has been asked to fill Dawson’s boots.
“It’s a bit of a shame for Daws. The big thing about him is that he’s a brilliant team man,” said all-rounder Chris Woakes.
“He’s been in and out for quite a while and hasn’t had many opportunities to play. Now, when he looks like he is going to be a shoo-in for that third spinner’s role, he unfortunately gets a bit of a niggle. He’ll be as frustrated as anyone. Hopefully, it is not too bad and he can play a part moving forward. He deserves his opportunities.”
