Rob Key, managing director of England men’s cricket, is hopeful more English talent will “burst onto the scene” after declaring Worcestershire’s Josh Tongue has all the attributes to become “one of the best bowlers” in the world.
Throughout his tenure, Key has been known for elevating young, emerging talent into the Test squad, like Somerset’s Shoaib Bashir and Lancashire’s Tom Hartley, handing them debuts despite their limited domestic records.
Next week he will celebrate three years in the role – a period during which he has rarely been averse to a gamble, and he has hinted he will continue to take risks.
“I watched a lot of Josh Tongue, who’s been on our radar and in our system as well. I think he’s right up there,” said Key, speaking on the Sky Sports Cricket podcast.
“You’re almost saying to him, ‘the mark for you, Josh, is the best bowlers in the world, you have everything at your disposal to do that’.
“There are lots of different entry points into international cricket. You get guys that just burst onto the scene with so much talent, which Tom Banton did.
“When he first came around, you thought, ‘this kid’s exceptional’. You might get them in, and they may fly, and you never look back. Alastair Cook came in on debut and then became England’s greatest-ever run scorer.”
Earlier this week, it was announced Harry Brook will take over from Jos Buttler as England’s white-ball captain following a disappointing group-stage exit in the Champions Trophy.
Speaking about his new role, Brook said he is relishing the challenge of reigniting the side and looking forward to working alongside Key.
Brook has said he is looking forward to starting his role as the new white-ball captain
“What we want from our batters in Test cricket is to have the ability to put bowlers under pressure and soak it up,” Key added.
“The schedule has changed. Our multi-format batters like Ben Duckett and Brook will play everything. Anyone in that Test team can go and do it.
“The likelihood is the bowlers in the Test team will probably miss out on the white-ball series because you need to get them ready for the Test match against India.
“They then need to pivot into white-ball cricket and it’s slightly fiddly, but it’s a good thing because we’ve got a good batch of bowlers.”
Key: Brook to bring calm to chaos
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Brook tells Sky Sports News it is a ‘dream come true’ to have been named England’s T20 and one-day international captain
Key backed Brook as the new white-ball captain, saying he will bring a level of calm to the role as he helps England get back on track.
“There’s a lot of chaos in leadership and captaincy,” Key said.
“You’ve got to have a poker face, and when everyone looks at him, they think he’s in control and he knows what he’s doing, that’s really important.
“A lot of the time you don’t, but when you look like you do, people think this is the right way and they follow. It’s something that Brook does.
“Captaincy can weigh you down, look at Buttler in the IPL [Indian Premier League]; he looks liberated. That extra responsibility can be hard, but so far Brook looks like someone who can compartmentalise things whilst also focusing on his batting.
“He is not going to be the most polished when he’s talking to the media or stuff like that, but it’ll get better as he does all of that stuff because he is clear on what he wants and has conviction, which is not always the case.”
‘Now is the time to invest properly in County Championship’
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Sky Sports’ Michael Atherton explains why Brook has been named as England’s T20 and ODI captain and says there were not that many other options
The England and Wales Cricket Board is to hold another domestic review, reopening the door to potentially playing fewer fixtures across all competitions.
The summer schedule, which got under way with the start of the County Championship earlier this month, remains an unwieldy one despite similar consultations in 2018 and Sir Andrew Strauss’ largely mothballed ‘high-performance review’ in 2022.
Key has said one of the most important things will be to invest properly in the conditions the players play in to help replicate international cricket.
“I believe one of the most important things is that now is the time to invest properly into the conditions,” Key said.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re playing 10, 20, or 30 championship games; you’ve got to play in conditions as similar to international cricket as possible.
“I watched a lot of Championship cricket this week and some of those pitches are painfully slow.
“A lot of the time, these guys are so overworked and under-resourced that we’ve got to make sure that we put resources into that.”
England’s upcoming fixtures
All games are live on Sky Sports
One-off Test at home to Zimbabwe (May)
- Thursday May 22-Sunday May 25 (11am) – Trent Bridge, Nottingham
Test series at home to India (June-July)
- First Test: Friday June 20-Tuesday June 24 (11am) – Headingley, Leeds
- Second Test: Wednesday July 2-Sunday July 6 (11am) – Edgbaston, Birmingham
- Third Test: Thursday July 10-Monday July 14 (11am) – Lord’s, London
- Fourth Test: Wednesday July 23-Sunday July 27 (11am) – Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester
- Fifth Test: Thursday July 31-Monday August 4 (11am) – The Kia Oval, London
One-day international series at home to West Indies (May-June)
- First ODI: Thursday May 29 (1pm) – Edgbaston, Birmingham
- Second ODI: Sunday June 1 (11am) – Sophia Gardens, Cardiff
- Third ODI: Tuesday June 3 (1pm) – The Kia Oval, London
T20 international series at home to West Indies (June)
- First T20: Friday June 6 (6.30pm) – Seat Unique Riverside, Chester-le-Street
- Second T20: Sunday June 8 (2.30pm) – Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol
- Third T20: Tuesday June 10 (6.30pm) – Utilita Bowl, Southampton
