Robert Key fills up the telly

We've always rather admired Rob Key here at the Reverse Sweep.

The Kent skipper is a bit of a throwback to when cricket was full of larger-than-life characters like Ian Botham, Allan Lamb and Raymond Illingworth. Certainly Key seems to be a fairly jovial chap who doesn't take life too seriously and judging by his girth he enjoys the post-match camaraderie just as much as he enjoys the cricket.

But he is also a fabulous batsman who should have played more tests for England. I can understand why his athleticism; or to be more precise his lack of it, would preclude him from the Twenty 20 and one day sides, but he can count himself extremely unlucky that he hasn't played a test match since the tour of South Africa in 2004/05. Apparently the England hierarchy were displeased by the close bond he formed with Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison and resolved to split up the burgeoning Three Musketeers. As the other two were England's key (pardon the pun) players at the time, it was the other Key who inevitably took the fall.

In another life he would have kept his place for the infamous Ashes series of 2005 and would no doubt have done better than the man who replaced him - Ian Bell. Indeed, the Australians actually respected Key and had seen on the 2002/03 England tour to Australia that he had a bit of the bulldog about him. If that had happened life could have been very different for Robert Key MBE.

So we were delighted yesterday on a number of counts. One, we were still basking in the glow of England's World T20 victory. Two, Sky Sports were showing a live County Cricket match. And three, Key chose this moment to hit a gloriously commanding 261 against the reigning county champions Durham.

It was a quite spectacular innings, coming off just 270 balls and featuring 38 fours and three sixes. Key was at his bludgeoning best and with Steve Harmison in full flow and the next highest score being Azhar Mahmood's 43, the innings was all the more remarkable. Especially so, considering that Key's championship average this season coming into the match was a dismal 14.3.

Unfortunately, it is probably too late now for the 31 year old to get a recall from the England selectors, so fans of the curmudgeonly Key will have to make do with the sporadic coverage of county cricket from Sky. But yesterday we saw what might have been.  

Comments

[greyblazer]

Leaving one innings against a very poor Westindies side he didn't do much. Every-time I see him bat his front foot goes nowhere and most international bowlers would get him out by bowling a fuller length.

His scores other than that 220 odd

17, 30, 34,11,47,23,0,52,3,14,18,4,83, 15, 29,4,6,93,0,41,19,1 and 9. So why should he have got more chances to play for England?

[The Reverse Sweep]

If you were as big as Key, you probably wouldn't move your front foot much either! Tres didn't really move his feet either, but he was England's best opener since Graham Gooch.To be fair, Key didn't do himself full justice when he got his turn in the England side, but if he had been given the run that Bell has been for example, he could well have improved on his record. I guess we'll never know.