All for England

Robert Key turns 29 in May, which comes as a surprise both to those who recall his England career as a relic of a bygone era as well as to those who take one look at his ruddy complexion and automatically add half a decade to his age. The reality is that he is approaching his peak as a batsman, and after two seasons of captaincy at Kent he feels ready to reclaim the England place he vacated three seasons ago.

Key hasn't played for England since the tour of South Africa in 2004-05, which coincidentally was their last overseas win until last month's success in New Zealand. The team has changed beyond recognition in the interim, both in terms of personnel (back then, Kevin Pietersen hadn't even made his debut) and results. The team that Key vacated had won 12 of their last 16 Tests, with a solitary defeat. The team that he hopes to battle back into has won just five out of 18.

"My main ambition in cricket is to play for England, and I hope people don't forget that," says Key, who was earlier this week named in a 26-man Performance Squad for the international summer - a token acknowledgement that his efforts on the county circuit are being appreciated. "People sometimes think I'm coming to the end of my career, but I see myself right in my prime. I have my ambition, and Kent fans might not like it, but playing for England comes first. I don't practise as hard as I do to not try and get back in the England team."

There was a time once when practice and Key were uneasy bedfellows. By his own admission he is not one of nature's athletes, but for several seasons in his youth he allowed his waistline to flourish more readily than his talent. These days, however, maturity and responsibility have brought a harder edge to his game. To that end, in every available winter since the start of the decade, he has decamped to Perth to work on his fitness with Justin Langer's coach, Noddy Holder.

"It all comes back to trying to play for England," he says. "If I wasn't interested I'd sit around and wait for summer, but I do what I need to do to improve. There's no way that I'm just going to say 'That's it for me, I'm now going to try and win things with Kent.' If I'm playing well and getting back towards the England team, Kent will be doing well as well, with an opening batsman scoring a lot of runs."

With his solid, angular stance and meaty technique, Key has been doing plenty of that in recent years. He's averaged in excess of 55 in three of the last four English seasons, and racked up 20 first-class hundreds in that period as well. Last year he even turned a corner in the limited-overs game - an area in which he had habitually underachieved - with three centuries and an average of 52.23, as well as a starring role in Kent's crowning glory of the season, their Twenty20 Cup triumph at Edgbaston in August.

"That finals day was one of the best I've had," says Key, whose unbeaten 68 had carried his side past Sussex in the semi-final. "It's so rare as a county cricketer to play in front of a packed house on an adrenalin-filled day like that, and I'd love more days like that if that's what one-day cricket is about.

"In the past I'd have done well in the championship, but struggled for double figures in one-dayers because my focus was solely on Test cricket," says Key, who averaged only 10.80 in five barren ODIs in 2003-04. "But last year I turned into a decent one-day player, which was pleasing because I've probably done Kent a disservice over the years. The main reason for that is experience, which is why I believe my best is yet to come."

At Test level, in fact, Key's best was beginning to come to fruition at the precise moment that he was ousted from the side in the spring of 2005. He had just been named one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Year after his starring role in the 4-0 clean sweep against West Indies the previous summer, which included a career-best 221 at Lord's and an even better unbeaten 93 in a tricky run-chase at Old Trafford.

"West Indies weren't a great side, it has to be said, but those are the things you look back on," says Key. "I top-scored in the series and I think I was averaging 60 when I got left out, which is just one of those things. But it's why I feel unfulfilled at Test level. I could have been more consistent, I suppose, but the one thing I do feel is that I'm a better player now than when I did get those scores. It took a while to adjust to Test cricket, and just when I felt I had adjusted, I was out of the set-up."

A tricky tour of South Africa undermined Key's credentials. Mark Butcher, who missed the West Indies series through injury, reclaimed his place at the start of the trip only to withdraw on the morning of the third Test at Cape Town with a wrist problem. Key hadn't played competitively since the end of the English season, and was hopelessly out of form as he fell to Shaun Pollock for a fifth-ball duck.

Though he fought back with 41 and 83 in his next two innings, a tame end to the series sealed his fate - and by the time the Ashes had been won the following summer, his battling qualities had faded from the mind's eye. "If I'd got a hundred, it might have been a different story, but I threw my wicket away," says Key. "In hindsight, I played too early and I found it tough, but there's not too much time for sentiment in international sport, which is the way it should be."

The strength of Key's opponents wasn't the only obstacle to his progress. "At that time I came in as a replacement for guys like Marcus Trescothick and Graham Thorpe," he says, "and when you're talking about Thorpey, he's one of the best batsmen England has had for a while. It's pretty tough when you're up against that sort of competition, but then again, I managed to get in at a time when England were at their very best, and I feel I'm a better player now than I was then."

Three years on, and the circumstances couldn't be much more different. England's fortunes have been ebbing ever since the Ashes, and should their problems persist at the top of the order this summer, Key knows he has a wealth of experience - gleaned at both county and international level - that the new management would do well to tap into. "I'm optimistic at the minute," he says. "In the past my face might not have fitted, but I don't feel that the England top order is a closed shop. If it is, that's wrong."

Key is used to being told that his face doesn't fit. Under Duncan Fletcher, players who failed to look the part tended not to be given time to show their credentials - none more obviously than Ryan Sidebottom, who was written off as a one-cap wonder before he picked up 50 Test wickets in his first full international year. The credit for that selection goes to the new coach, Peter Moores, and Key feels that it's a precedent that bodes well for his prospects.

"I remember talking to Stephen Fleming two or three years ago, saying 'How is this guy [Sidebottom] not playing for England?'" says Key. "I literally couldn't get a run against him, and what he's shown is that skill is as important as raw pace. As batsmen, you get your runs, you get what you deserve. As bowlers, there was a period when you felt if you weren't bowling rapid, you weren't going to play. That's what Moores has done well. He's found the most skilful bowler in England and put him in the team."

It's a fairly simple philosophy, but it's one that appeals to all county players who hanker after a piece of the limelight - not least those who've had a taste of the big time and want some more. "This year's goal is to play for England," says Key. "I'm going to have to score a lot of runs to be there for the first Test in May, but at some stage, if someone's struggling or injured, I've just got to make sure they've not got any excuses to not pick me."