Joe Denly has fingers that bend

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Joe Denly talking to Rob Key (via Sky Sports)

Do you remember My Name is Earl? We haven’t seen it in years, but maybe it’s frequently repeated on a channel you regularly watch.

There was one episode where Earl got a job in a fast food restaurant. His interview for that job was conducted by Jon Favreau.

“You speak English?” asks Favreau as his opening question.

As Earl begins to answer him, Favreau swiftly follows up with: “You got all your fingers…? Do they bend? I’ve been fooled before.”

Sometimes you only need to do so much to get the gig.

Keaton Jennings has not made the opener’s spot his own. Keaton Jennings has made the opener’s spot someone else’s.

For now, at least, that man is Joe ‘No Pants’ Denly – a man who used to open the batting but doesn’t any more and who averaged 34.50 in the second division of the County Championship last year.

We like Denly. We like that he used to bat with Rob Key. We like that he has been known to eat a sandwich on the balcony during a game. We said that people should watch him once (possibly more than once). Good luck to him.

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19 comments

  1. I thought Alastair Cook spoke well on the TMS podcast today. Maybe he’s similar to Ed Miliband. Unshackled from the responsibility of having to do anything important, he suddenly becomes human.

    1. We’ve said before that we think a lot of his stumbling was down to being a good company man and saying one thing while thinking another. Maybe thoughts and words have aligned.

  2. Wow, you’ve bought back great memories of My Name is Earl, great first two seasons, then totally jumped the shark season 3.

    1. I think I read somewhere not that long ago that the writers had a grand plan for the final episode, which would have been quite a satisfying ending (I can remember some of the details but won’t mention here, I’m not sure if non-broadcast episodes are subject to spoiler ettiquette), but because American TV executives and/or networks are so fickle (and possibly because the quality started to dip), it was cancelled on what was intended to be a cliffhanger, two whole ‘seasons’ before the planned ending.

      There’s a metaphor there for something, maybe.

  3. Who needs Joe Denley to play loose-as-a-goose outside off stump like that when James Vince looked so much more convincing in that mode (until he nicked off)?

  4. If we assume that averaging 40 is the accepted standard of ‘good’ for Test match batting, and 35 for openers, then do England currently have a single good batsman? Joe has gone to pot so doesn’t count.

      1. Okay, then I’ll have to fall back on England’s stubborn refusal to pick Bell or Trescothick.

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