In conversation with Rob Key

The 2014 season has been something of a topsy-turvy affair for Kent captain ROB KEY. While he averages 40 in one-day cricket, the former England batsman is averaging only 23 in the first-class game. He spoke with MARK PENNELL…

It’s been a very frustrating season for me with the bat . . .I scored a hundred early on against a decent Surreyside, but couldn’t get into a rhythm to continue that form. I judge myself by pretty high standards and, being honest with myself, I’ve been pretty poor so far.

I played okay on a tough pitch at Guildford but the two weeks out nursing a hamstring injury, which I’m still struggling to shake off, has left me feeling a little bit undercooked. Hopefully it can all turn around in the last month because, at the moment, I’m not playing anywhere near as well as I know I can.

It was a disappointing end to our unbeaten run . . .and for whatever reason we didn’t play well enough against Hampshire. We can’t use tiredness as an excuse because the schedule is pretty much the same for everyone. It has been a trend all season in that we haven’t batted well enough as a group, and we spoke about that in the dressing room after the defeat. We’ve scored only six championship hundreds as a team this season but, to my mind, the top-order players in particular should be looking to get half-a-dozen tons each. It’s a trend we need to buck pretty quickly.

We’ve had a great run in the 50-over competition . . .yet, like a lot of teams, it’s been hard to know what a defendable score is what with new balls from both ends and the change in fielding restrictions. Apart from James Tredwell, who has played the format for England, it’s still new to us all and it is very different to the old 50-over game. Back then, it was easier to close a game out. Back in the day, when we had Azhar Mahmood and Yasir Arafat bowling at the death with a soft, old ball, then I felt 60 or 70 off the last 10 was easily defendable, but that’s no longer the case. Even if we still had those two.

Things are still moving generally in the right direction . . . because you only have to look at some of the performances of Adam Riley and Sam Billings to know they are both potential England players. We are a team in transition and we sometimes struggle for consistency, but when we do all click as a unit, as we did against Surrey in Guildford, then we can look pretty formidable.

There are some vital fixtures ahead of us . . . and we shouldn’t forget that three of our championship wins came without Doug Bollinger in the side. So it’s not all gloom and doom just because Doug’s off back home. We have Calum Haggett fit again and back in the side and the two youngsters, Charlie Hartley and Matt Hunn, waiting in the wings, so they may need to step up and show us what they can do before the season’s end. Ben Harmison is also starting to gain some confidence with the ball. His bowling has been a work in progress since he came to us from Durham, but now he’s standing the seam upright and looking more effective, so I think there could be more of a role for him from here on.