Latest news with #RobKey
Daily Mail
13 hours ago
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Ben Stokes has been outstanding as captain but the next two series WILL define him, writes NASSER HUSSAIN
Ben Stokes knows that his England team will be judged on what happens in these two upcoming five-match Test series against India and Australia. Because of the brand of cricket England have adopted, because of its rapid tempo and because of the swagger they have introduced to the most traditional form of the game, some people are simply waiting for them to fail. And if they don't win this series against India starting at Headingley on Friday, and don't win the Ashes, there will be a lot of 'I told you so' from the people who said Bazball wouldn't work against the best. Yes, South Africa have just won the World Test Championship by beating the Aussies at Lord's, but India and Australia have set the benchmark for the global game over the past 10 years. Regardless of results for the remainder of 2025, though, if you asked me in 15 years' time, 'What did you think of Stokes as a captain?' my answer would be, 'Outstanding!' For me, these next six months will not define him personally as much as it will define the regime of which he is a part alongside Rob Key and Brendon McCullum. So far, their England team have been brilliant to watch, but if there is one thing you would ask them to address, it would be to act smarter in certain situations. When they are ahead of the game, that is not necessarily the time to employ all-out attack, dead set on entertainment, thinking winning doesn't matter. Capitalising on winning positions in these next 10 Tests is more important than ever because of the quality of the opposition, but at times they've got to be ruthless and not offer opponents their chance to pounce. Under Stokes, England have overdone things at times, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, or failing to grind out a draw. Stokes famously said he would never play for a draw when he took over, of course, but there may be a time in these next 10 Tests that a draw makes all the difference. You don't want to be looking back saying: if only we'd held on, we would have beaten India or won the Ashes. Nobody's asking them to be negative and defensive; they just have to be ruthless. I'm a huge admirer of what Stokes has done as skipper. Remember, when he came in three years ago, England had won only one of their previous 17 Tests. His win percentage of 61 is exceptional and the way he has led the side… it's as good as anyone I've seen. Yet it could have gone even better for England. Poor batting at Lord's cost them the second Test against the Australians in 2023. Equally, but for rain at Old Trafford later that summer, he could easily have upped his number of wins and regained the Ashes for England. Very few captains tick every box, but Stokes pretty much does. A bit like Mike Brearley, he has great emotional intelligence. People want to play for him and he gets that balance right in his dressing-room relationships. Great leaders talk about being a friend to other players, but not their best friend. Stokes gets that pretty much spot-on. He is the players' friend, but they're scared of crossing him because he's not their best friend and he will call them out if they haven't pulled their weight. Tactically, he has great nous, and he leads from the front. Sometimes too much. At times he's over-bowled himself, and if he gets injured, England are a much poorer side without him. If they are going to beat India and Australia, England need Stokes to be front and centre with his own contributions, and how he could do with rediscovering his form of 2019 with the bat.
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Sport
- Telegraph
Sticking with Ollie Pope could hurt England's Ashes chances
Picking Ollie Pope over Jacob Bethell to bat at No 3 against India is the fair call but that does not make it the right one. There is a difference between the two and it threatens to haunt England as they stand on the cusp of a run of 10 Test matches that Rob Key, the director of cricket, admitted this week would be used to 'define this era'. Ollie Pope scored 171 in his last innings when Bethell missed the Zimbabwe Test to play in the Indian Premier League, doing everything he could to keep his place when it looked as though a new kid had come along and taken to No 3 like a natural. Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum have honoured that performance against a poor Zimbabwe attack and gone with Pope against India, despite the baggage he brings. Pope averages 24 against India, and just 15 when faced with Australia. When the pressure of a big series takes hold, Pope has floundered. In 98 Test innings, Pope has scored eight hundreds, one every 12.25 innings, which is better than Graeme Hick (one in every 14) but slightly worse than Paul Collingwood (one in 11). No disrespect to Collingwood, a fine scrapper for England, but expectations of Pope were higher when he started out. Pope's numbers are inflated by the Zimbabwe 171 and 205 against Ireland. Those runs still needed to be scored, but if you subtract the performances against the two minnows his average drops to 32. Suddenly, six hundreds in 96 innings looks pretty thin and in 36 of those, he has been dismissed facing 20 balls or fewer, not exactly the rock a team want at No 3 against the new ball. Bethell has no such history because he has barely played any cricket and to anoint him as a No 3 without a professional hundred to his name is a gamble, too, but his composure in his three Tests so far marked him out. He averaged 52 in New Zealand and, at the end of that tour, the futures of both Bethell and Pope appeared settled. Bethell would build experience this summer against India, a high-pressure series that is as close to playing Australia as is possible to experience. Pope, meanwhile, would become the reserve keeper-batsman, a cover lower down the order where he looked so much more comfortable in New Zealand, making two important fifties batting at No 6. Instead, based on a performance against Zimbabwe rather than a high-quality New Zealand side, Pope is back at No 3 and how he responds this time will be career-defining. He knows there is a rival ready to take his place, and a player who has struggled to shut out the external pressures of the job will have to learn a laser-like focus against a Jasprit Bumrah-led attack. It will be hard. Bumrah has dismissed Pope five times, most gallingly bringing him back down to earth at his highest peak. In the innings after his 196 in Hyderabad, Pope reached 23 in Visakhapatnam only for Bumrah to detonate his stumps with a fine yorker. Pope scored 95 in his next seven innings. Akash Chopra " If Bumrah's Ball to Ollie Pope was sent down during the ashes, it could have been a contender for the ball of the century " — Sujeet Suman (@sujeetsuman1991) March 12, 2024 There will be no going back if he fails this time. With James Rew and Jordan Cox candidates to be Jamie Smith's back-up in Australia, there are no lives left for Pope. Bethell should play in the County Championship for Warwickshire against Somerset on Sunday, his first game in red-ball cricket since the Hamilton Test in December. Where his county bats him will be of immediate interest. Surely they will not keep him down at No 7, like they did before his England call-up. Bethell cannot be blamed for staying at the IPL. It is up to those higher up to make the decision about where a 21-year-old plays his cricket, and England should have recalled him for the Zimbabwe Test, not just to avoid the messiness with Pope, but to give Bethell the experience he badly needs. But instead England and the England and Wales Cricket Board lacked the appetite to upset India relations and allowed one of their young talents to be an IPL bench-warmer (he was not even in the first-choice RCB XI) instead of playing Test cricket. Now they are dealing with the knock-on effect. It runs the risk of Pope failing, Bethell taking his place but in the meantime missing matches and time that would be so useful before the Ashes tour, not just to develop his batting but also his left-arm spin. There is a strong team spirit in this group and this is not a call that threatens to break any bonds, like it could have done in more fragile environments of the past. Pope is popular and being vice-captain carries some cache. He stepped in for Stokes last year and led the team to two series victories. Bethell batted alongside Pope in the nets yesterday at Headingley and two took part in catching practice. There were no clues from their body language about who had been given the nod. It is a decision that Pope will have to justify pretty quickly.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Andrew Flintoff hailed for 'making people feel like they can conquer the world' following return to England cricket setup after horrifying Top Gear crash
Former England cricketer Andrew Flintoff has been praised for 'making people feel like they can conquer the world' by the team's current managing director Rob Key. Flintoff, 47, returned to the national side's setup in 2023, initially on a consultancy basis, before being handed the England Lions job in September last year. It marked a remarkable return to the sport for a man who suffered serious injuries in a car crash that occurred while he was filming Top Gear for BBC in December 2022. The incident saw the 2005 Ashes hero having to be airlifted to hospital after he sustained sever facial injuries. As well as being England team-mates during their respective playing careers, Flintoff and Key formed a strong friendship off the field. They have since reunited in managerial and coaching roles for England, with Key now having spoken glowingly of the man who became affectionately known as 'Freddie' due to his surname's similarity with cartoon character Freddie Flintstone. Speaking to The Telegraph, Key said: 'I think he'd be an excellent head coach of England, Andrew Flintoff'. 'Fred's got that real inspiration. He's been there, he's done it. He understands what he says. 'He's more like Brendon McCullum, where he understands what you're going through. 'So when you speak to Fred about players, you get a rundown really on not just them as the player, but what they're really like, what they're going through, what they think, you know, which is really important. 'He makes people feel like they can conquer the world really. And he does it in a subtle way. You can't just tell people ''you are great'''. England have looked a reinvigorated side since McCullum became their head coach in 2022, winning 23 of 36 Test matches in that time. But they face a decisive year as they face two of the top sides in the world over the next six months, starting with home Test series against India which begins on Friday. They will then face arguably the biggest task in all of English cricket as they travel to Australia for an away Ashes series over the winter - having not even won a Test Down Under since their famous 3-1 series victory in 2010-11.
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Sport
- Telegraph
Rob Key interview: Freddie Flintoff can be England's next Brendon McCullum
Rob Key is into his fourth summer as England 's managing director of men's cricket but is well aware that his tenure will be judged by the outcome of 10 Test matches that begin this Friday with India before Australia and the Ashes. It is judgment day for the whole 'Bazball' project overseen by Key, Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes. 'There's no doubt that everyone will define this era on that,' Key tells the new Telegraph Cricket Podcast on its first episode. 'I don't define myself on how we go in the next 10 Test matches, but I'm sure that everyone else will.' After a routine Test win against Zimbabwe, and a positive first outing for Harry Brook's white-ball teams, the mood in English cricket is largely positive as Key rifles through all manner of issues. The 46-year-old former Kent captain looks relaxed, dressed for a round of golf (as usual), and is recalling a moment of humorous hypocrisy earlier in the summer. Having told his players to dial back on the golf chat that was rubbing fans up the wrong way, only to give an interview from a tee-box at a charity tournament. 'I didn't tell them to stop playing golf, just stop giving easy headlines about it and talking about it as I have here,' he laughs. 'I was playing the Bob Willis Prostate Cancer Golf Day and they said to me, would you do an interview with Sky News [to promote the day]? And I thought, I've just said to them, 'don't talk about golf – and here I am on the 10th tee'. 'But I think it's so important for these lads to have something else outside of the cricket because there's not a moment I go through where I'm not thinking about the selection side of it, all these different parts of the job. And it's like you get a moment, whether it's the cinema, whatever it is you do where you can just switch off and have a bit of peace of mind. I think that's so important.' "Nothing too serious" 🗣️ Rob Key gives an update on the thumb injury to Jofra Archer 🏴 — Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) May 21, 2025 Key knows, though, that the time for talk is done. What matters is how Stokes's team performs at Headingley on Friday. They start the series with a slightly patched-up attack, but he hopes that Jofra Archer could be fit for the second Test at Edgbaston and Mark Wood back before the series is out. Archer and Wood are among a raft of injured England bowlers, and Key admits he watched the World Test Championship final with a little envy given the stark contrast with the durability of Australia's great bowlers. They lost that final to South Africa, and a great attack – Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon – are entering the winter of their careers, but they have been together for pretty much every big moment since 2017. Australia have still not lost an Ashes Test that all four have played in. 'I always find it slightly frustrating how they managed to keep those bowlers fit for almost everything,' he says. 'That's the dream, isn't it? Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood, with the era that they've had, it's been a lot because of those guys. 'That's the holy grail, really, being able to keep your best bowlers fit like that for as long as possible.' Key believes that a generation of English bowlers like Brydon Carse and Gus Atkinson are maturing, though, and could have similar longevity. 'We've looked into all of this, and what happens is there comes a point, with young bowlers where you have to push them, push them, then pull them back. 'They need to develop the robustness, their bones need to strengthen, their bodies need to harden, which is what's happening now. Cummins had lots of stress fractures and injuries and was out for a long, long time. But there comes a point, they reckon sort of 23 and beyond, where bowlers have properly developed and matured. 'I hate [the idea of] rest and rotation because it's premeditated, 'you are not going to play the third Test' and so on. I don't like that, but we have to be flexible throughout.' A crucial member of Key's team is Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff. The pair were close friends in their playing days and Key ushered Flintoff back to cricket after his horrendous car crash on Top Gear. Now he runs England Lions, nurturing the next generation of players. This is a delicate job, because England are as adventurous with selection as they ever have been. Key drops in a host of pretenders' names, including the Sussex churner Tom Haines, the Surrey seamer Tom Lawes, and Eddie Jack, a Hampshire quick yet to play in the Championship. The latter was due to join the Test squad at Headingley this week, but is going to play some county cricket instead. Crucially, the Lions set-up is an opportunity for Flintoff to prepare himself for the main England side, too. 'I think he'd be an excellent head coach of England, Andrew Flintoff,' Key says. 'Fred's got that real inspiration. He's been there, he's done it. He understands what he says. 'He's more like Brendon McCullum, where he understands what you're going through. So when you speak to Fred about players, you get a rundown really on not just them as the player, but what they're really like, what they're going through, what they think, you know, which is really important. 'He makes people feel like they can conquer the world really. And he does it in a subtle way. You can't just tell people 'you are great'. '[Our approach is] Pick the most talented players you can and give them experiences.' Key believes that Flintoff is capable of using the stick as well as the carrot, though. 'It's no different from raising your kids at times. If you just tell your kids they're great all the time and give them everything they want... You've got some pretty average kids growing up I reckon, and it's no different as players. 'The last thing you want is entitled cricketers who think that everyone should be doing them a favour. You want to create players that everyone wants to follow, because they're bloody good players who go out there, win games of cricket, and they're a great role model.' England's selection policy – batting Jacob Bethell at No 3 having never scored a professional hundred, for instance – has led to accusations that county form no longer matters. But Key believes that county cricket has become so different to Test matches in some respects (the use of spin, for instance), that selection has to take place independent from it. However, he points to the likes of Sam Cook and Ben Duckett, whose county form ultimately brought selection. 'People say but you're not picking from the counties,' Key says. 'I say, where do you think these guys are coming from? They're not coming from The Dog and Duck, you know, they are being produced by the counties. 'I made a pact to myself. That I could get involved in the county politics, like they've got this domestic review. I ended up in the high-performance review we did before [in 2022]. 'It's a hard thing to change, right? It's just a different style of cricket at the moment because they play so much cricket at the start of the year.' 'So it's not for me to tell them,' Key adds. 'If you're a director of cricket or you are a county head coach, your job isn't decided by how England are doing. Your job is on whether you are winning Championships. You've seen with Lancashire at the moment, Dale Benkenstein, is gone, that's nothing to do with us. That's for Lancashire. 'The same with Jacob Bethell. Everyone was saying how is Jacob Bethell playing for England? Now everyone thinks he should play every game. But we are almost a bit like 'well yeah, we would've been having him bat at three for Warwickshire for years', but that's not our place to do that.' And whether Bethell returns at No 3 in place of Ollie Pope is very much the main topic of conversation heading into the India series. But Key only provides a straight bat to that question, which is not very Bazball at all.
India Today
3 days ago
- Sport
- India Today
Jasprit Bumrah and Joe Root will re-create Anderson-Kohli rivalry: England director
England's Managing Director of Men's Cricket, Rob Key, has said that India fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah and Joe Root will re-create James Anderson and Virat Kohli's rivaly in the upcoming Test series. India are set to take on England in a five-match Test series set to begin from June big names will not be seen playing in the upcoming series as India's Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin have announced retirements. On the other hand, England will be without their legendary seam duo of James Anderson and Stuart the absence of big names will not take any excitement away from the series as Rob Key has backed Bumrah and Root to recreate a mouthwatering battle between Kohli and Anderson. 'I watch the young Indian players coming through. I believe that with the talent I see in white-ball cricket, even in the IPL, talented players can adapt much easier than people think. You don't need to have played 50-100 red-ball games to be able to put your best foot forward in Test cricket. And those rivalries will emerge. You've got probably one of our best players, if not the best — Joe Root — against one of the best bowlers I've seen in Bumrah. So that's going to be a fascinating contest,' Rob Key was quoted as saying by Times of has had a wood over Root throughout his career, having dismissed him nine times in Tests so far. Hence, the India speedster will look to continue his dominance against the England Rob Key also expressed excitement about watching Jamie Smith and Rishabh Pant play in the upcoming series.'Rishabh Pant and Jamie Smith, those two wicketkeepers that play in such a captivating style, have the ability to throw counter punches,' he played a breathtaking innings of 146 during his last Test in England as he helped rescue India from a precarious position of 98/5 in the first innings. Meanwhile, Smith has got his career off to a terrific start, having scored 641 runs from his first ten Tests. The duo are expected to play pivotal roles for their respective teams in the upcoming series.
