ASHES, 2019 Dear Denly - it's not you, it's them Vithushan Ehantharajah Share Tweet

Pushed as an opener in place of Roy, Denly made 4 off 24 before being dismissed. ©Getty

You knew it was not going to end well, and you knew it was going to end tonight.

The first delivery was left and almost cost him his off stump. The second and fourth beat a twitchy outside edge. The fifth - a single into the covers - drew sarcastic applause from his own fans.

An over later, he took his eyes off a Mitchell Starc bouncer and wore it flush on the helmet. There were more plays and misses and even one cutting through between the inside edge and bat while missing the stumps. If it were a boxing referee out there instead of an umpire, the bout might have been called off early. In the end, a sprawling Matthew Wade at short leg brought mercy.

Off Joe Denly walked, an Ashes opener for the first time, with 24 balls and four runs to his name. He will do it again in the second innings, no doubt under great stress with England 474 behind Australia's first innings score as this fourth Test heads into day three.

Hands up, then - who thought this would go well? Don't focus on the man, per se: who reckoned moving a bloke from number four to open was going to end any other way?

Something had to change though. England have not been able to concoct an opening partnership of worth. With the Ashes still live, this was the time to pull the cord on a plan concocted at the start of the month. Jason Roy would move to the middle order and Denly, as he had done on Test debut against West Indies at the start of the year, would open the batting.

The explanation given for the switch was to benefit the team. Denly's tighter technique offered a better chance for runs up top, while a softer ball would be more conducive to Roy's harder hands in the middle order, where he has batted for the majority of his 140 first-class innings to this point. But you do not need to scratch the surface for long to uncover the real reasons.

England want Roy to be a successful Test player based on his spectacular ODI form, even if his first-class average of 37 is a pretty accurate reflection of his red ball work. Unfortunately for Denly, they are more than happy to sacrifice his career to make that work.

Because really, if you wanted a different opener, you'd surely replace him with an opener? If you believed in Roy as a middle order Test player, why would he not start as one when he made his debut against Ireland last month? At the same time, when all the talk has been of creating a settled environment to allow batsmen, particularly newcomers, to find their feet in their respective roles, why shift a player who just last week gutsed out 50 from almost four hours of graft? A 50, no less, which formed part of a 126-run partnership and provided Ben Stokes with the platform he needed to complete that miracle run chase.

Though Denly averages 36 in domestic cricket, with the majority of his big runs scored in Division Two of the County Championship, he has looked the more accomplished of the two at this level. But Roy is perceived to have the higher ceiling, perhaps not unreasonably given his ODI record. Denly... well, Denly is 33. And that alone makes him expendable.

It is easy to criticise what we have seen from the Kent man so far, and that's not to say it is wrong to do so. A top order batsman averaging 22 from 13 innings is absolutely worthy of scrutiny. But temper that with this: across his eight Tests he has been used as an opener, No. 3 and No. 4, Roy, too, deserves sympathy. On day three (Friday) the pressure on him to perform will be immense and no doubt his first innings in the middle order will be regularly punctuated by Australians close by asking him why he feels the need to hide down the order. As the regular engine room will attest, coming in later does not diminish the threat of Cummins, Hazlewood or Lyon.

You can be irked by the presence and/or the positions occupied by Denly and Roy in this Test side. But that ire should be directed at those who put them in these literal and figurative positions.

It's not just blaming national selector Ed Smith, who put faith in a weighted average that suggested Denly could be a success at the highest level, against one of the best visiting pace attacks in the modern era. But also head coach Trevor Bayliss for allowing a situation like this to arise because of four years of "wait-and-see" coaching. It worked for the limited-overs squads but not with this one which has regressed in the absence of a firmer hand and sterner voice.

Joe Root, too, has to take his. Talk of getting the team together and identifying the brand of cricket you want to play is noble. But if you cannot identify the players you want or indeed need to make that a reality, then should you really be surprised when you're rolled for double figures thrice in eight months and look like losing the Ashes for the second time in a fortnight?

There is also a human element to consider. Of course, international sport is a harsh environment. There are no participation medals, "that's why they call it Test cricket" and all the other nonsense spouted whenever the topic of duty of care comes up.

Even when the stakes are as high as this, it must be a consideration. Especially when England have seen so many of its brightest stars dull physically and mentally from the demands of this sport and, specifically, this format.

But for those a couple of tiers below, even with years of life on their side, the experience of being chewed up and spat out by the system leads to a bitterness that can mutate into something worse.

Michael Carberry openly talks about losing a piece of his self-worth on the horrendous 2013/14 Ashes tour. In more recent times, Dawid Malan and Mark Stoneman struggled to come to terms with what they respectively believe were premature axings.

Even Zafar Ansari, interests and ambitions far beyond this game, was left disillusioned after a cold and bitterly disappointing tour of Bangladesh and India in 2016. While that time was not a catalyst for his retirement ahead of the following summer, a career as an English Test cricketer was something he was happy to do without.

Times have changed, though, and the set-up is more compassionate even compared to three years ago. But it will be hard for the likes of Denly and Roy, depending on what tomorrow brings, not to take the team's woes personally.

Denly, a picture of dismay as he walked off in the fading Manchester light, would do well to remember one thing. It's not you - it's them.

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