KENT cricketer Joe Denly is back home in Whitstable reflecting on the six-week England Under-19 tour to Malaysia and India, happy with his own performances, but bitterly disappointed the team did not do better.

The teenage opening batsman and leg spinner, 19 next month, was the only real batting success of the tour.

He feels he achieved his own personal goals on the trip, but says the whole squad under manager John Abrahams and coach Andy Pick were "gutted" after suffering a 3-0 whitewash in the Test series and losing the one-day internationals 4-1.

Denly scored a total of 403 runs on the trip. He made three 50s in the Tests, including a top score of 81, and then hit 71 and 80 in the limited overs series, sharing an opening stand of 160 with skipper Steven Davies of Worcestershire in England’s only one-day win, a five-wicket victory in the third match.

He faces a debrief with Pick and county coaches Simon Willis and Paul Farbrace in the next few weeks, but admitted: "The tour went well for me personally, and I reaIly enjoyed it. I went there wanting to become a better player, and a more organised cricketer and I feel I did both.

"I think all the boys were shocked how hard it was out there. The Indians were a very good batting side, and their spin bowlers were always looking to attack and made it very difficult for us."

Denly and the rest of the squad played two warm-up games in Malaysia during the first week but the humidity and 30 degree plus temperatures proved a problem.

He said: "I struggled quite a bit in the heat out there. I had a 20-minute net one day, and could hardly talk afterwards. There was no breeze at all, and we all found it hard to come to terms with. The temperatures in India though were only around 20 degrees, and that was far more comfortable to play in."

Denly scored 24 and eight in the two games in Malaysia. He started the Test series with 59 and 24 in the 293-run defeat in Bangalore, followed up with 56 and seven in the innings and 106-run loss and then 81 and 11 in the final Test, as England suffered another heavy defeat by an innings and 137 runs.

He made a poor start in the one-day series, out to the first ball of the opening match, made six in the next, before England broke their tour duck with a five-wicket win at Eden Gardens, Calcutta, in the next, when Denly and Davies posted their century first wicket stand.

He then made 80 in the next match, occupying the crease for 40 overs, as England slipped to a 10-wicket defeat, and then made eight in the final game of the series as England went down by four wickets.

Denly said: "I loved playing at Eden Gardens in Calcutta. It’s a great venue, and I think because we won there it made it even better. We went into the game pushing hard for a win and Steve and I put together a good partnership.

"The 80 in the next game was quite easy. I enjoyed batting and having to concentrate for so long, it was just a shame that nobody could stay with me at the other end. The wickets out there were nice, one-paced tracks which were good to play on."

Denly bowls regularly for the county and Whitstable in the Kent League, but admits he had to work hard for a chance with the ball on tour.

He said: "I really enjoy bowling and kept pushing for an opportunity. I bowled 20 overs in one match, and took one for 40 off 15 overs, only then to go for 50 in the last five, as they got after me. I also took 2-18 from four overs in another game."

He is still eligible for this summer’s visit by Sri Lanka, but will be too old by the time the next World Cup comes around. He says scoring his maiden first-class hundred for Kent and winning a place at the National Academy are two ambitions firmly in his sights.

Now though there is little time to rest. He starts fitness work soon, ahead of pre-season training, under new director of cricket Graham Ford.