By Jamie Lillywhite

Denly was one of the few to master Mushtaq at Hove in April

Scoring a century off an attack led by Aussie stars Shane Warne and Stuart Clark when your team is bowled out for 199 is bound to make people sit up and take notice.

And Kent batsman Joe Denly is already dreaming of the day when he follows former England Under-19 opening partner Alastair Cook into Test cricket.

"To play for England is definitely a goal of mine, but one step at a time," said the level-headed youngster.

Denly has spent the past two winters grooving his batting in Australian grade cricket.

Playing for Balmain Tigers in Sydney, he has faced the likes of Brett Lee and spinner Stuart MacGill.

"It's a great standard and it gave me a chance to work on a couple of things," the 21-year-old told BBC Sport.

Those improvements have brought him 348 runs in his first seven Championship innings this year, including that intrepid 115 when he carried his bat against Hampshire.

"Starting the season well takes a bit of pressure off," he admitted.

Harmison was probably one of the toughest bowlers I've ever faced Joe Denly

"The wicket was quite slow, you needed to get in and the more time you spent the easier it became.

"Clark doesn't give you much to hit, he's so good at hitting the seam he moved it around, you have to wait for him to drop it in short.

"All the other blokes seemed to get all the good balls and I evaded them.

"Once you've seen Clark off Shane Warne comes on! Again it's just trying to wait for the bad ball, rotating the strike and trying to get to the other end," he said.

"I spoke to Keysey [Kent skipper Rob Key] about it and just trying to play him straight is the key thing, making sure you're not falling over inside the drift because that's how he gets so many of his wickets, bowling people round the legs. But the he puts the slider in and gets lbws.

"Warne thrives on other people's body language so I was just trying to keep a positive intent. Every ball he was appealing for lbw, maybe trying to get in my head but I just tried to block it out."

But it is another evergreen leg-spinner, Sussex's former Pakistan international Mushtaq Ahmed, who has impressed Denly more.

"I found Mushtaq a lot harder to pick," said Denly, who made 63 in the second innings at Hove last month.

"Warne's easier in a way because he turns his leg-break almost at right-angles you can then pick his googly, whereas Mushtaq doesn't really get a lot of turn with his leggie but his googly turns quite a lot and he bowls it quite a lot."

Denly can mix watchful defence with some more powerful hitting

Before his century against Hampshire, Denly made another impressive score in difficult circumstances when he hit 92 against a Durham attack featuring England's Steve Harmison and Liam Plunkett.

"Harmison was probably one of the toughest bowlers I've ever faced.

"He gets so much bounce and you don't get too much to drive, even if it's full it's still bouncing chest height into your ribs and you don't feel comfortable against him at any stage, but it's a good challenge and I enjoyed it.

"Plunkett is tall and gets quite a bit of bounce as well but also gets shape, swings it away, similar to Clark but a bit quicker, he tries to bore you out."

Denly has proved he can also score heavily in the one-day game, where he is employed as a middle-order batsman by Kent, smashing five sixes in a century against World Cup Super 8 side Ireland in Belfast.

"I'd rather be opening but six or seven is good chance to experience a different part of the game and another option for me, to let them know at the [National] Academy I can bat wherever," he commented.

"Coming in at a crucial time, where you've lost wickets and you have to see the innings through."

In addition to his batting, Denly is also a developing leg-spinner.

"It's going pretty well but it's just getting the opportunity. I've been working on my bowling in the winter and the more chance I get the better I'll be.

"They like the look of my bowling and have told me to keep working at it," he added.

Deadly Denly, now that's got a nice ring to it!