GEORGE DOBELL AT LORD'S: The new managing director of England men's cricket delivers on his first media appearance since being appointed as Ashley Giles' successor, but the hard work starts now
There’s a scene in the film The Hunger where David Bowie’s character ages several hundred years in a few moments. He was a vampire, you see – in the film; not in reality – and apparently that’s a lifestyle that catches up with you.
It came to mind watching Rob Key host his first press conference as MD of England’s men’s teams. Not that there’s any suggestion of vampirism with Key - whatever he’s eating in recent months, he’s looking fitter and thinner than ever; you could almost call him ‘skeleton Key’ – but he looked so fresh-faced and spoke with such enthusiasm about his new role that it was hard not to fear for him a little.
Ashley Giles started out this way. Andy Flower and Peter Moores, too. Eventually, the job weighed them down. Like vampirism, apparently.
It would have taken a hard-hearted sort not to warm to him, though. And to wish him well. Exuding enthusiasm and good-humoured common sense, he spoke with pride at his sudden promotion – it’s worth underlining; a month ago he was a TV pundit with very little coaching or administrative experience – and optimism at what could be achieved.
Besides, he would dismiss these concerns as negative thinking, anyway. While he accepts some aspects of English cricket may require "tweaking", he also points out that a couple of challenges the teams have struggled with over recent years have been unique.
He makes a decent point, too. For one thing, the pandemic would appear to have abated (for now, at least) which should allow players a more forgiving environment when on national duty. For another, Key believes a change of coach can coax more out of players he believes have the talent to achieve improved results.
"In all fairness, the last two years for that team look like it’s been as tough for English cricket as it’s ever been," he said. "They’ve played the best teams in the world over and over and over again they’ve played in conditions in India that were tough and then they’ve had the pandemic. A lot of those problems were stuff we had to worry about in a pandemic.
Appointing Stokes as captain was Key's first act as MD (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
"Poor old Gilo. His decisions were all about the pandemic. So their decisions haven’t been about how to do we win a game; they’ve been about can so and so have a tea out of his room. I would argue that living in those bubbles has hit the mental health of all players to different degrees. And now we’ve got to move on from that and our focus can be on winning games of cricket. That will make a massive difference to English cricket."
While Key is clearly sympathetic to Giles, his predecessor, he also doesn’t try to hide his view that he may have appointed the wrong man as head coach.
"I think there are talented cricketers in the England Test squad," Key said. "We just haven’t got the best out of them. That’s your job if you are a coach, if you are in the setup, that’s my job as an MD, to make them play as well as they can. I need to appoint a coach who creates an environment in which they can do that. I see no reason why they can’t do that.
"I watch the county streams and we are still producing good cricketers. The last two years have been bloody tough for them and that’s a big factor. But I see no reason we can’t put that in place if I get the right people to drive that forward. I am optimistic about English cricket.
"We’ve got to prove we can produce good cricketers and that county cricket can be a breeding ground for great international cricketers as it was before. Does it need tweaking? Yes, maybe. There’s not an easy answer to any of these questions but I’m optimistic about English cricket, otherwise, I wouldn’t have taken this job."
He accepts that, right now, England are "a long, long way" behind Australia in Test cricket. But he also insists the raw talent is there to improve results
"At that point in time, yes they were a long, long way away," he said of Australia’s performance over the winter. “And there’s a bit to do. There are some good teams and we’re way off them at the moment.
"It was an easy decision to appoint Ben. It would have been a lot tougher if he wasn’t keen. I talked to a lot of people that know him. Every single one of them said that they felt he’d be an excellent captain. And they were very honest about the best way to manage him."
"But do I think we’ve got the talent to be able to compete with them? Absolutely. Is it going to take a bit of time to get there? Probably.
"The question is always, are the batsmen hopeless with no ability and no talent? I don’t think that’s the case at all. Have we been getting the best out of them? Absolutely not. Can we get the best out of Ollie Pope and Dan Lawrence? There is talent in our game. It is our duty to get the absolute most of that talent. I think it’s there and that’s what we have to do and that’s what we haven’t done."
While Key is critical of the ECB for the decision not to tour Pakistan at the end of 2021 – "we got that wrong in a big way," he said – he has warm words for the good intentions of the administrators. The only time he strayed into controversial territory was when bringing up the name of Joe Clarke was a candidate for England’s middle-order. Really, who would be foolish enough to tackle that subject?
"We have this view of the ECB, but even when I was working with Sky I never sat in a room and felt there was anyone in there saying ‘let’s try and make English cricket worse’.
"They get beaten up and battered quite a lot at the moment, but they are not like trolls trying to make bad decisions. They are good people trying like hell to make cricket as good as they can. In my experience, they are trying to make cricket the best game in the country.”
There were warm words for Ben Stokes and Joe Root, too.
"I text Joe and just said, ‘look mate, it would be good to have a chat at some stage but I understand completely if you just want a break from it all’," Key said.
Installing Chris Silverwood's replacement is the next port of call for Silverwood (Steve Bell/Getty Images)
"Within a minute he rang me up and we went on for about an hour-and-a-half. And, looking back at that last two years, what he has done has been unbelievable. What he has done as a leader, but also scoring the runs he has scored… it’s one of the great sporting achievements, really.
"It was an easy decision to appoint Ben. It would have been a lot tougher if he wasn’t keen. I talked to a lot of people that know him. Every single one of them said that they felt he’d be an excellent captain. And they were very honest about the best way to manage him.
"He epitomises everything our red-ball team needs. I just want him to go out and do that and lead from the front. And I think he’ll do that. I think he’ll be good. I always think in leaders one of the most important things - especially if you’re a great player, which he is - is he’s got a lot of compassion, he’s got a lot of empathy and when you talk to him he’s always talking about other people around him and what’s best for the side.
"He’s not someone with a massive ego who is thinking what’s best for me. He genuinely thinks that he’s the best person to lead England forward and I agree."
Many of the problems remain, of course. That England's schedule still demands too much of the best players. That the county calendar still renders it tough for spinners and fast bowlers to develop. There’s still a white-ball window hogging the prime weeks of the summer.
But to hear Key talk with passion and knowledge you can almost be convinced improvement is right around the corner. Almost.
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