Why is Joe Denly still in the Test team?

CricViz analysis features in this week’s Telegraph Nerd Newsletter, examining the benefits of Joe Denly’s obdurate approach to Test batting.

Tim Wigmore’s newsletter this week focusses on Joe Denly’s position in the Test team and the value of batting time in Test cricket.

Wigmore argues that Denly’s approach of consuming more deliveries helps protect England’s dynamic middle order from the more perilous phases of the innings.

“Given a choice between, say, Denly — whose average Test innings is 30 off 75 balls — and a batsman averaging similarly who is dismissed every 50 balls in Tests, as James Vince is, the slower scoring No 3 is more valuable,” writes Wigmore. “Denly’s extra 25 balls per Test dismissal translates to an extra eight overs keeping Root and co away from the bowling when it is at its most dangerous. All of this, perhaps, encapsulates just how much the formats of the sport have already diverged: the metrics used to determine a player’s worth can be inverted.”

CricViz data is used to support this point. The table below shows how as the ball gets older – around the 40 over mark, batting in England appears to become easier with averages rising from the low 30s up into the 40s.

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