Don't ask Kent batsman Joe Denly if he’s been among the runs this winter as you may not get the answer you expect.

The 22-year-old from Whitstable spent much of the winter overseas in India on duty with the England Lions and the England Performance Programme (EPP) representative squad.

Before Christmas, Denly trained in Loughborough and Australia with the EPP before jetting out to India with them for a training camp in Chennai and Mohali in India.

Then, after the festive period, he returned to the sub-continent on the England Lions’ tour trying to help the tourists qualify for the Duleep Trophy finals.

Reflecting on the experience, Denly said: "It was all a little disappointing and, in personal terms, a bit frustrating out there.

"I felt I was hitting the ball well all winter and often got past 30 or 40 but would find strange ways of getting myself out and somehow managed to nick a lot of balls.

"We had the ECB’s Crick-Stat video and computer analysis system out there with us. I have played back the footage since and I’m working on a couple of things going into the season off the back of that."

It didn’t help Denly’s cause that he suffered stomach upsets throughout much of the winter, going down with various bugs that caused him to lose five kilos in weight.

Denly added: "Having trained hard and bulked up with muscle, I went out to India and went down four times with sickness and diarrhoea. If you get it once it’s very hard to get rid of it and tends to keep hitting you over and over.

"It may sound a bit of a lame excuse but it really was debilitating and when my family picked me up at the airport after the tour they couldn’t believe how gaunt I looked.

"It’s great to play in other countries and experience cricket overseas and it’s good for me at young age to test myself but that wasn’t part of the plan. In an ideal world I would have gone to India, scored a bagful of runs and come back in top form and straight into Kent’s season, that wasn’t meant to be.

"Now, the task is to try and develop my game and put some of the things I have learned into practice."

Denly, who won many plaudits in 2007 for his cultured, yet attacking, batting at the top of the Kent batting order, added: "Being positive is the way forward for me and the way I want to continue playing the game.

"Sure I can take a look at my shot selection but generally I want to stay in a positive frame of mind when I’m out in the middle."

With only one recognised spin bowler in the Kent squad this summer in James Tredwell, Denly also knows he may be called upon to bowl more of his 'occasional' leg-spinners.

He added: "The Lions were managed by David Parsons, who also happens to be the ECB spin bowling coach, so it was great to work with him in the nets.

"I also spent some time chatting and practicing with Monty Panesar in trying to become a better bowler than I was last year.

"As James Tredwell has one-foot in the door with England, it maybe that I’ll get a few more opportunities to bowl for Kent this summer and I'm looking forward to getting a go," he added.