"The ovation I got was incredibly special, I'm certainly going to miss playing here..."

Denly has form for downplaying his achievements. When he took a hat-trick with a leg-side stumping at The Oval, he described it as “naughty” and although he admitted it “would have been the fairy tale,” to see Kent home on Friday he almost seemed happier to have contributed to a performance in which all 11 players played a part.

“To get the win and for it to be such an entertaining game, was a nice way to go out,” he said. “I'm delighted. Hopefully the boys can get a bit of momentum now and really kick on in this competition.”