Rob Key - Rob Key: My Life in Cricket

Oi, Key

To Fleur, Aaliyah and Harrison

Oi, Key

Tales of a Journeyman Cricketer

Rob Key

with

John Woodhouse

First published in Great Britain in 2020 by

White Owl Books

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire - Philadelphia

Copyright Rob Key, 2020

ISBN 978 1 52676 821 6

eISBN 978 1 52676 822 3

Mobi ISBN 978 1 52676 823 0

The right of Rob Key to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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Ihave a picture at home. Its of me and Rob Key walking off the field together at Old Trafford having just shared a century stand in a successful run chase against West Indies.

So rarely did me and Keysy get a chance to bat together and here we were, two mates living out the dream of winning a Test match for England.

As we neared the target, so Keysy was approaching his hundred. He was on 90 with us almost over the line. I was still in the 40s.

Keysy, I said, Im just going to drop anchor while you get your hundred.

He looked at me. No, he insisted. You cant do that. Finish the game. Me and you walking off together having won is far better than any hundred.

Nothing says more about Keysy than that moment the fact it was more important to him for us to get over the line together. And that, ultimately, is what you play for. Your county, your country, it doesnt matter if youre not playing cricket, any sport, with people you have relationships with, then whats the point?

I hit a couple of sixes and that was that. I walked off with my mate. Amazing I loved it and yet somehow it felt bittersweet. When I look at that picture, I still think about it to this day It could, and should, have been another Test hundred for Keysy. I dont have many regrets in cricket, whats done is done, but that is one of them. He deserved that ton completely.

Theres another reason I remember that game. I was getting some real pepper from West Indies quick Fidel Edwards. I couldnt get out the way, and every time I was hit I kept looking down the other end. And there, every time, was Keysy, the master of fast bowling, shoulders bouncing up and down, laughing. Hed play the same deliveries so easily. It was so frustrating!

But that was Keysy. If I were to pick someone to go and bat against the worlds best bowlers the likes of Wasim Akram, Allan Donald, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne I would pick Keysy above anyone else. He is, no doubt about it, the best player not to play 100 Test matches. He has never quite received the credit for how good he actually was, right up there with the very best, especially against fast bowling. His problem wasnt the speed merchants, it was the numpties. Hed do all the hard work against Brett Lee and then get out to Damien Martyn. He was that classic cricketer a man who truly thrived off a challenge.

I did once manage to get him out. It was the worst wicket of my life. I was just coming back from injury and Lancashire were playing Kent down in Canterbury. Keysy was opening the batting. My first ball was a loosener, back of a length. It hit him in the midriff and trickled on to his off stump. He looked up at me. I wont say what he called me, but it began with a letter very early in the alphabet. He neednt have bothered I was genuinely gutted that I got him out. I wanted Keysy to score runs, to play for England. I knew what a class act he was. When he got his double hundred against the West Indies at Lords, it meant far more to me than the century I got in the same series. I was far happier seeing him raise his bat twice and be on the honours board than with any runs I scored.

That closeness had been there right from the first time I clapped eyes on Keysy. He was like no one me and Steve Harmison had ever met before. We had just one question: Who is this bloke? He was a bit of a novelty, very funny in a miserable way, someone who could stop me dead in my tracks with a single comment.

Equally, I think he was intrigued by me and Harmy. He would never stop doing a northern accent or what he thought was one. Even now, he picks me up on missing words Youre not speaking properly. Same with Harmy. Always funny, though, never any malice. And to be fair, he got a bit back. Keysy is from the south-east and speaks with that Aw right, Fred? accent. Awful.

It was evident straight away that the three of us got on. We did everything together played together, ate together, drank together. When we were on tour we would more or less live in each others rooms. For me, that was what playing the game was all about. In any team you will have people you get on with, others you dont, and within that mix therell be a couple who are almost like family.

We should have played more together for England and I sometimes feel guilty that I was maybe one of the reasons he didnt. I think the then coach, Duncan Fletcher, could handle two similar personalities in a team in me and Harmy, but I dont believe he wanted the three of us. That, I think, he considered would have been to the teams detriment.

Keysy also suffered from people thinking he was unfit. He was actually nothing of the sort. Keysy was actually incredibly fit, albeit because he used to play hockey a grown man playing hockey, I still cant get my head round it. He used to take me to his hockey club and Id be looking at him, thinking, Come on Keysy, get a grip.

Keysy would have made the England team stronger every day of the week. If he had been there in the 2005 Ashes as well as me and Harmy, what was already an unbelievable summer would have been absolutely perfect. Similarly, if Id had him in my team when I was England captain, it would have been a different kettle of fish. I would have drawn on him so much. He has an immense cricket brain. He knows the game inside out. The only comparison I can make is with Shane Warne. Both see cricket differently to anyone else.

If anything, Keysy is underused in cricket. He would be one of the greatest batting coaches ever. While some coaches talk in riddles and clichs, Keysy gets straight to the point. He sees things that I and so many others dont. He has played with so many different people, so many different characters. He is a mine of knowledge and thats what we see now with his punditry. No surprise to see how well Keysy has done with Sky. Hes a different level. Listen to him analyse the most complex themes on TV and his words make perfect sense.