Rob Key has promised to give everything he has to shaping the next great era of English men’s cricket after being appointed as new managing director of the England and Wales Cricket Board.
Joe Root was the latest of a series of resignations when he announced his decision to retire as England captain on Friday following a disastrous 12 months of Test cricket including a dismal 4-0 defeat in the Ashes.
The 31-year-old’s decision expanded a power vacuum at the ECB, with head coach Chris Silverwood, batting coach Graham Thorpe and former managing director of England men’s cricket Ashley Giles losing their jobs over three successive days in February.
Key had been a surprise contender for that role, which was openly advertised on the ECB website, having primarily worked as a commentator and pundit since his retirement from county cricket with Kent in 2015, and he will give up his current broadcasting role to take the reins. He was one of the commentators heard in Australia on the Fox coverage of the Aussies’ Pakistan tour.
Rob Key. (Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)
“It is an absolute honour to take up this role,” he said on Sunday after his appointment was announced.
“The chance to have an impact and make a difference is an opportunity given to very few and I will give it everything I have to try shape the next great era of English men’s cricket,” Key said.
“Although at this current moment it has been a challenging time in English cricket, I also think it’s as exciting a time as I can remember.
“With two of our teams near or at the top of the world rankings and an undoubted amount of talent in our game, I hope to try and bring everyone along for the ride so we can all help take English men’s cricket to new heights across all formats.”
One of Key’s first challenges will be to appoint a successor to Root, with Ben Stokes the favourite to take the role as one of few players guaranteed to be in the Test team.
Key will be responsible for the strategy and performance of the England men’s cricket team.
As a player, Key played 15 Tests for England between 2002 and 2005, as well as five one-day internationals and one Twenty20 international. He scored a Test double century against the West Indies at Lord’s in 2004.
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
England can't afford to pick 5 batters. With six, they're rubbish
Ian Masterton
Guest
I'm starting to wonder whether Eoin Morgan should be considered for the Test Captaincy. He's been successful captaining in the short formats and is his test average of 30 a lot worse than most of the current top 6 batting incumbents?
Josh H
Roar Rookie
If Root is relinquishing the captaincy due to pressure and mental toll, why would it be logical to then give it to the guy who plausibly has an even bigger workload than Root? Stokes is their second best bat and out of all the bowlers to be guaranteed to play every match, he is the most experienced (Broad and Anderson don't). Awarding him the responsibility of captaincy would be a bridge too far. He's under enough pressure already. Buttler isn't in England's best top 6 nor is he England's best keeper (it's Foakes) so he shouldn't even make the XI let alone captain it. Bairstow has been in their best XI for about two minutes and whilst he's in great form, let's not forget he's been a very mediocre test cricketer for the bulk of his career and the sheer amount of times he's been dropped for fresh blood. Hard to captain when you can be dropped at the flick of a switch. It's not like he's Brearley-esque enough to hold his spot as a captain either (he doesn't captain at all). Broad and Anderson are both too old and neither play every match anyway due to workload, and as they are older they are less likely to be able to maintain fitness. They're off the cards too. The only two county captains that are remotely close to the England test squad are Sam Billings, James Vince and Rory Burns. Billings is strikes out for the same reasons as Buttler. Vince strikes out for fairly similar reasons to Bairstow. So that leaves Rory. Mediocre cricketer, clear weaknesses as a batsman. We all know it like the back of our hand. But - is he still in England's best two openers? Yeah, probably. He has the highest average out of any batsman to debut for England over the past ~5 years. Is he the most experienced county captain in the country? Yeah, he kind of is. Not to mention he was appointed captain ahead of the likes of Hashim Amla, Gareth Batty and even Kumar Sangakkara if I remember correctly. It's not ideal, but Burns is the only one to tick the most basic boxes.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Waqar Younis was good value in commentary last month.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Yes. From this article, seems like Key will manage the England team and what is going on near to it. But England/Wales cricket needs more to be done from further below. All Key will be able to do is manage what is delivered to him at the top level. It's what is being delivered to that top level (or not being delivered) which seems to be the key issue. I don't know much about the ECB Board, but from what I see, they seem directionless/clueless. Just focused on the "last mile" of cricket delivery, when there seems to be broader structural issues at play from the grassroots up.
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
You can have the finest manager , coach and captain on the planet but if you don’t have the players ? …Let’s be brutally frank , which current top 5 International teams would Broad and Anderson make the cut for if available for selection. Certainly not Australia, South Africa , New Zealand , Pakistan or India . Which spin bowler from England would find a way into any of those 5 teams ? I cannot think of 1 . Only Root , Stokes and Bairstow would have a shot at selection . England have a serious deficit of World Class players , match winners if you must . They need to look at county cricket and select young players on potential and work with them . Accept that rebuilding phases are needed . Teams like South Africa , NZ and Pakistan who do not have the player resource depth of Australia and India have been doing that for ever . Finally England must ask the uncomfortable question . ..Why is their domestic structures not churning out class players by the bucketload because it should be .
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
Hopefully he's better at that job, than he is at commentating! Between him and Haysman there was no respite from inanity during the Aussies tour of Pakistan! If it hadn't been for Waqar, I'd have watched all of it without sound!