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Full name Robert William Trevor Key
Born May 12, 1979, East Dulwich, London
Current age 29 years 110 days
Major teams England,Kent
Nickname Keysy
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm offbreak
Height
6 ft 1 in
Education Langley Park Boys' School
Batting and fielding averages
Mat
Inns
NO
Runs
HS
Ave
BF
SR
100
50
4s
6s
Ct
St
Tests
15
26
1
775
221
31.00
1639
47.28
1
3
97
2
11
0
ODIs
5
5
0
54
19
10.80
135
40.00
0
0
6
0
0
0
First-class
187
323
20
12647
221
41.73
37
48
108
0
List A
171
164
11
4786
114
31.28
4
32
35
0
Twenty20
35
35
5
889
68*
29.63
693
128.28
0
6
95
26
9
0
Bowling averages
Mat
Inns
Balls
Runs
Wkts
BBI
BBM
Ave
Econ
SR
4w
5w
10
Tests
15
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
ODIs
5
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
First-class
187
164
94
0
-
-
-
3.43
-
0
0
0
List A
171
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Twenty20
35
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Career statistics
Test debut
England v India at Nottingham, Aug 8-12, 2002 scorecard
Last Test
South Africa v England at Centurion, Jan 21-25, 2005 scorecard
Test statistics
ODI debut
England v Zimbabwe at Nottingham, Jun 26, 2003 scorecard
Last ODI
England v West Indies at Lord's, Jul 6, 2004 scorecard
ODI statistics
First-class debut
1998
Last First-class
Kent v Lancashire at Canterbury, Aug 20-23, 2008 scorecard
List A debut
1998
Last List A
Yorkshire v Kent at Scarborough, Aug 25, 2008 scorecard
Kent v Middlesex at Southampton, Jul 26, 2008 scorecard
Profile
Cherry-cheeked Kent batsman Robert Key had been marked down for great things
- not least by headline-writers spotting an easy pun a mile off - since he
helped England win the Under-19 World Cup in South Africa early in 1998. His
trademark shot is a back-foot biff through the covers, while his off-drive
on the front foot pleases the purists too. For a while his waistline
expanded along with his burgeoning batting reputation, and he was 16 stone
and counting before Alec Stewart had a quiet word. Over 1000 runs for Kent
in 2001 were followed by a winter under Rod Marsh at the Academy in
Adelaide. Key came back even leaner and hungrier, and more runs propelled
him past Ian Bell - previously touted as the Next Big Thing - into the
England side after Marcus Trescothick's broken thumb and Graham Thorpe's
broken heart created a vacancy or two. A couple of gutsy innings followed in
Australia, although he displayed a worrying propensity for getting out when
seemingly set, especially just after a break in play. But in 2004, he burst back into the limelight, scoring 1000 first-class runs by the second day of June, and cracking a magnificent 221 against West Indies at Lord's, in his first Test appearance for over a year. The jury, however, was still out after a hit-and-miss winter in South Africa in 2004-05, when his culpable shot-selection in defeat at Cape Town was offset by an important half-century in the series-clinching victory at Johannesburg. He was appointed Kent's captain for the 2006 season, a role he took on "to enhance, not hamper" his career, and as captain of the England A team that took on the Sri Lankan and Pakistani tourists, it was clear he remained in the selectors' thoughts. This was confirmed when he was named in the Academy squad to be based in Perth during the winter's Ashes series, and in 2007 his one-day game, a self-confessed weakness, came to fruition as he led Kent to a memorable Twenty20 Cup triumph at Edgbaston. Come the 2008 season he was champing at the bit for a Test recall, as demonstrated by an unbeaten 178 for Kent against the New Zealand tourists, a performance that earned him the captaincy of the England Lions. Steven Lynch (May 2008)
Notes
NBC Denis Compton Award 1998
NBC Denis Compton Award 2001
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2005
