By Jack Miller
THE sight of Rob Key striding to the crease will be sorely missed by the patrons at Canterbury, but Kent skipper Sam Northeast insists his legacy will live on in the men he leaves behind.
Key, who played 15 times for England and notched up one ton, a massive 221 against the West Indies in 2004, hung up his spikes once and for all last week after a first-class career spanning 17 years.
The 36-year-old right-hander, who notched up 19,419 first-class runs at an average of 40.45, was a one-county man at Kent and also the longest-serving captain in his two terms since Colin Cowdrey.
But while Northeast admits his absence will hit players, coaches, and tea-ladies up and down the county circuit, the time is right to move on – with Kent’s ambitious new school ready to fill the Key-shaped hole.
“It was still a bit of a shock, to be honest,” he said. “To not see Rob Key at the top of the order for Kent is going to take some time to get used to.
“Every Kent player will say he has done something for them individually, whether that be helping out with their game or anything on a personal level. We wanted him to stay around, but clearly the time was right for him to call time.
“There’s certainly an even bigger role for me to play now. I felt like signing a new contract was the right thing to do as soon as the captaincy got named, so that’s what I did.
“The future for this cricket club is in Division One and winning trophies, and if we can keep everyone together I think we can do that.
“Sam Billings has signed a new contract, and if we can keep players like Daniel Bell-Drummond and Matt Coles here I’m sure we’ll do big things.
“Yorkshire are probably the best example in terms of having guys come up through the academy and them forming the backbone of the side, then adding some overseas players for a bit of quality.
“Ultimately we want to be seeing our guys go on and play for England and follow in the footsteps of the likes of Rob Key and Geraint Jones. That’s our goal.”
Bell-Drummond has raised his bat at the top of the order already, the 22-year-old scoring 124 of Kent’s 264 first-innings score against Leicestershire earlier his week.
And one man Northeast is backing to reinforce the batting further is overseas signing Tom Latham, with the exciting New Zealand batsman hugely capable across all formats.
And should he reproduce the kind of form that has seen him score three centuries in 18 Test appearances, Northeast imagines Latham will make the loss of Key easier to handle.
“Especially with Rob Key retiring and Sam Billings being away with the IPL, Tom can be very important for us in the next few weeks,” he added. “He provides that extra bit of class and international experience – what Keysey always had. He’s got something about him and hopefully he can fill Rob’s boots.
“They are big boots to fill but we are really excited about what he can do and to see how he goes.”
This piece originally featured in The Cricket Paper, Friday April 29 2016
