Football Comes Back to Haunt Joe Denly With Injury in Oval Kickabout

There was a certain irony to the knee injury Joe Denly suffered at The Oval today as the kick abouts so beloved of the England cricket team claimed their latest casualty, even if the young Kent opener may have struggled to see the funny side.

Denly was a promising enough footballer to have attended the Charlton Athletic academy as a teenager – having been spotted during the same sort of pre-cricket kick about as today's – but reverted to cricket with Kent after suffering an injury playing for Whitstable under-18s.

In a cruel twist, he tells the story in the match program for tomorrow's game. "Funnily enough I got into football through cricket," explained the 23-year-old. "One of our age-group coaches at Kent, Graham Harrison, watched me playing five-a-side soccer in the warm-up before cricket one day. He obviously spotted something and invited me along for a trial at Charlton.

"I was a decent footballer but I didn't really start growing until well after my 17th birthday, and I used to get shoved around a bit on the field. I got pushed off the ball one day when playing for Whitstable under-18s and broke my arm so I decided enough was enough and I concentrated on cricket after that."