From choosing a new head coach and captain, to reshaping county cricket and assessing the future of James Anderson and Stuart Broad; We look at the biggest jobs on Rob Key’s roster as he officially begins his new role as managing director of England’s men’s cricket…
Rob Key officially starts his new job as managing director of England men’s cricket on Tuesday
On Tuesday, Rob Key officially starts his new job as managing director of England men’s cricket, but what’s waiting for him in his inbox?
Key is tasked with correcting a slump that has seen England win just one of their last 17 test matches, a run that included a 4-0 thrashing of the Ashes over the winter that cost predecessor Ashley Giles and the head coach Chris Silverwood.
And that’s where Key’s work will begin, with the search for a new head coach…
This is the biggest task that awaits Key, and the one that will probably define his era as CEO.
“The next three or four decisions that Key makes will be vital for the future of our cricket,” Nasser Hussain said. Sky sports news after Key’s appointment. “That’s one thing [former MD] Andrew Strauss got it right at first.
“He made those big decisions well. He brought in Trevor Bayliss [as coach]He totally got it.”
Bayliss was instrumental in leading England’s cue ball revolution as they went from the 2015 World Cup to victory in 2019, although the test team did stall a bit under his watch.
Is the work too much for a man? Could the roles of coach for red ball and white ball cricket be divided?
Key has previously stated that that would be his preference, saying in the sky cricket podcast in February: “I would split training. Not because it’s a lot of work, but because they’re two very different teams at two different times.
“The [white-ball] the team could use a facilitating coach who can continue to deliver what they are doing but challenge them. The test team needs a completely different style of coach: a driver of culture and environment.”
Now Key just needs to decide precisely who he wants to put behind the wheel?
As important as the appointment of Bayliss was in 2015, so was the call to keep Eoin Morgan as captain of the white team.
We’ll never know if Key would have kept Joe Root as Test captain, after Root stepped down from the role last week following England’s dismal form over the last year.
Root vice-captain Ben Stokes is the obvious choice to replace him, although the multi-talented talisman recently returned from a lengthy break from cricket last year “to prioritize his mental well-being”, with the 30-year-old saying as recently as January. , “he never really had the ambition to be a captain.”
That statement must also be seen in the context of a loyal Root supporter defending his patron and friend who came under fire after England’s Ashes humiliation, and Hussain has urged Key to sound out Stokes for his thoughts on the role now. .
“I would take a trip down the A1 to talk to Ben Stokes and see where he is mentally and physically and if he wants the job and feels he is in the right place to do it,” Hussain said. Sky sports news.
Other than Stokes, they’re pretty slim picks for the role, with most not even sure of their place on the initial test squad, let alone the captaincy.
If Key can convince Stokes that the job is for him, it would be a considerable blow early in his tenure.
It is widely accepted that at the heart of any England red ball restart there must be sweeping changes to the structure of domestic cricket in this country.
Root even faced the issue head-on after the Ashes’ latest embarrassment over the winter, saying at the end of the fifth Test in Hobart: “Anyone who gets into this Test team at the moment is doing so regardless of county cricket , not because of county cricket.”
The current system has seen four-day cricket sidelined at the confines of the ‘summer’ calendar, with county championship matches being played in early April and running through September, even stretching into October last year.
It has resulted in England players often being undercooked during the busy Test summer, while raw pace bowlers and up-and-coming spinners are often left out of the game as the county pro Medium pace dominates on green, closer-friendly fields that also keep hitters from getting big runs. and spend time in between.
Strauss said he wanted new recommendations signed “in time for the 2023 national season,” and Key already apparently has a clear vision in mind, as he described when speaking at a sky cricket podcast in january
