Joe Denly

For almost ten years Denly stayed on the edges of the national picture, and once he was past 30 his international career looked finished. He kept performing, though, both on the domestic circuit and in T20 competitions in various countries. That form brought a recall for England's T20I series against Sri Lanka in late 2018.

By then he had also become a reliable leg-spinner, which gave the selectors a second reason to pick him. His return match showed both skills. He made 20 with the bat, and when he was handed the new ball he took 4 wickets for 19 runs from his 4 overs without conceding a maiden. Both Sri Lankan openers were among his victims.

Denly's Test debut came in 2019, when he was 32. England used him as an opener on pitches with plenty of grass, and he found it hard to make his mark. He scored 112 runs in 4 innings, an average of 28. Any further run in the Test side will depend on him producing bigger scores more regularly.