Denly back for one last time against Somerset

If Denly makes a century and/or takes five wickets it'll be the perfect way to sign off, but we're only three games into the Metro Bank tournament. And if he can still do the business with either bat or ball, wouldn't you want him in the squad?

The club and player will undoubtedly have their reasons, but it's an unusual arrangement: players normally say farewell at the end of a season. The most obvious modern exception was Graeme Swann, who quit in the middle of the 2013-14 Ashes series, because he was no longer able to grip the ball.

Swann was pilloried by the likes of Graham Gooch, but he'd played the third test knowing he was done: unable to extract any turn, he was little more than a decoy, playing only because Alastair Cook said he needed his senior players as England subsided to a genuinely lethal-looking Mitchell Johnson. In hindsight he admitted he should never have gone on the tour in the first place.

But there's also more than one kind of retirement: you could name an extremely strong XI from players who've called it a day, only to reverse their decision, with Imran Khan as captain and Flintoff, Afridi and Pietersen all featuring.

In 1985 Brian Luckhurst (a team mate Boycott liked a lot, incidentally) came back into the Kent XI to face the touring Australians at the age of 46, nine years after he retired. He made 1 and 9 not out, caught by Allan Border off Craig Dermott in the first innings of a game Australia won by seven wickets.

Of the 15 named in tomorrow's squad, Denly and Matt Quinn are the additions to the party that travelled to Bristol and Farington, while Ollie Curtiss drops out. We can assume Denly senior will play, while Joey Evison is at least in the squad, suggesting he's leaving on better terms than Nathan Gilchrist after his move to Warwickshire was unveiled last year. (The reaction to Gilchrist's departure was similar, but most of his cricket, of late, has been with the Bears' 2nd XI).

Somerset are currently third in Group A and thrashed Warwickshire by 125 runs on Sunday. They're missing Alfie Ogborne, who was loaned to Kent last year and then not selected for either of the games he could have played in, but have signed 16-year-old Theo Lamey as cover. Jake Ball, who was also loaned to Kent last year, is also in their squad.