England's middle-order batsman Joe Denly admitted that he probably got caught up in the “survival mode” facing the ax after playing only the first Test of the ongoing summer.
The right-hander was dropped from England’s Test side following another failure with the bat in the first Test of the three-match Test series against the West Indies in Southampton – where he registered scores of 18 and 29. Denly averages 29.53 in 15 Tests with his highest score being 94 against Australia.
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The Kent batsman further said he could have adopted a more "free-flowing" approach to his batting after not being able to convert his starts into substantial scores in the given chances which led him to lose out on his place in the England Test team.
Denly told Evening Standard: “As I played more games and those big scores weren't coming, I may have gone into survival mode as opposed to expressing myself and playing the way I know I can.”
He further added, “Looking back I could have been a bit more free-flowing and taken it to the bowlers a bit more. I probably got caught up in batting time, not scoring runs, and that built up a bit too much pressure on myself. Before you know it, you're back in the shed.”
Denly admitted he was “absolutely gutted” following his axing from the Test side during West Indies series, however, said it was a “fair decision” given his own failure.
He signed off by saying, “Absolutely gutted, disappointed. But it was a fair decision. I had opportunities to get big scores and looking back that's the most frustrating thing. I haven't been able to capitalize and get three or four big hundreds and really make that No 3 spot my own. I always felt comfortable, never out of my depth. It's frustration with myself.”
(With Evening Standard Inputs)
