Captain Rob Key has told KSN that he is taking a break from playing to regain form, but also to consider his position as captain.

The 36 year old elected not to play in this week’s LV County Championship game with Glamorgan at Canterbury that ultimately ended in a draw.

After deciding to take a break from playing first team cricket for a few weeks, Key is hoping to go away and work out how to regain the blistering form that has seen him dominate bowling over the years.

On leaving himself out of the side, Rob Key admitted to KSN he needed time away from the game and that it will serve as a warning to others that no one is guaranteed a place in the Kent side:

“It was just a mixture of my own form and the way we were playing, really. I think that, as a captain, you can get away with poor form if your side is winning, and we weren’t doing that.”

“I play cricket because I enjoy scoring runs – no other reason. Obviously I want to do well as a captain, but first and foremost the reason why I started playing the game was because I enjoyed scoring runs, and with not doing that for a period now, I just felt I had to do something to buck the trend.”

“I’ve actually felt pretty good batting-wise, but mentally there’s something missing, whether it’s the captaincy or anything else, it just wasn’t right throughout the Leicestershire game. I felt that I had to do something to be able to perform better, because ultimately, I want to be scoring runs.”

Stepping away from playing the game for a few weeks, Key is also going to consider giving up the captaincy in the long term with Sam Northeast having taken over the reins in his absence:

“It’s definitely something that I’ll think about. I just have to find a way to get back to being a decent batsman and it’s something I’ll definitely explore.”

“It’s early days yet. I think there’s a whole “hoo-ha” about doing that sort of thing, but at the minute, it’s just a case of trying to get back to scoring some runs, and see where we go from there. That’s my main priority.”

“I just felt as well that my own form was allowing mediocrity. As a captain, you can say “do…” and try and set an example as best you can, but ultimately if you’re not playing well, it says to everyone: “well, he hasn’t got runs, so if I get a 30 or a 40 then I’m alright, and I wasn’t happy.”

“My own form, I felt, was bringing that about, and hopefully now, when your captain leaves himself out, it’s a wake-up call to everyone that we need to start performing better because no-one’s untouchable, really. Hopefully it’s been for the good.”

“I thought Daniel Bell-Drummond showed his class (in the Glamorgan game), but we need to make sure we’re all doing that, and raising the bar a lot higher than what it had been, probably down to the fact that I’d struggled myself.”

One option for Key to regain his form is to drop to the second eleven and it’s something the club captain hasn’t ruled out:

“It’s just so I can start again, really. We’re very early into the season – fatigue and stuff like that hasn’t set in, although it’s been a long start! It’s just so we can have a week where I get back to concentrating on me and me alone on batting, and then go into second team cricket from then on, and who knows what might happen.”

“It might not work, but hopefully it will get me back to playing well. As I say, I’ve felt pretty good to be honest. I could’ve argued in the last game I had two pretty ordinary decisions, but something wasn’t right mentally, so I have to go and sort that out.”

“It’s something I’ve never done. Because I’ve captained for a long time now, you’ve always got two jobs. I got to a point where I thought I’d like to just go and play and not have to worry about anything else, and just concentrate on my own batting.”

“Hopefully it’s something that, in three or four weeks time, I look back on as the best thing I did, but who knows at this point?”

When Key stepped down from the captaincy at the end of the 2012 season, he cited tireness as being the reason for stepping aside, but believes the reasons are different this time around:

“I just think I’m in a bit of a rut with the bat. It’s something where my batting record, I think, would be nowhere near as good as a captain. The year I did give it up, I think I got 1,200 runs.”

“Last year was nowhere near as good. As I say, I believe that, actually, I have been playing pretty well in nets and stuff, but all of that’s redundant – it’s when you get out in the middle.”

“It will be an interesting time, but I look forward to it. The thing I enjoy most about cricket is scoring hundreds, I enjoy winning games of cricket and scoring hundreds, and I don’t think that I’ve been able to do anywhere near enough of that over the last three games, certainly.”

Many outsiders looking in have questioned whether Key still has the appetite to carry on playing now he has turned 36 and with work at Sky as a pundit coming throughout the past few years, some have asked if he will give up altogether, but it’s not something the Kent captain is considering at this stage:

“I had a goal in my head – I wanted to score 60+ hundreds. I’ve got 52 now, and I was nowhere near doing that with the way things were going at the minute.”

“Things like the Sky work; it’s an absolute privilege to be able to do that. I’m very lucky to be able to do that sort of thing, but I don’t think it’s quite as simple as “I’ll finish and then I’ll go and work for Sky” and stuff like that.”

“They only have the very best of the best doing that – I’ve been alright in my career, but…! Who knows what might happen? It’s just something I love, and as a player, you have to be thinking about what you’re going to do when you come to an end.”

“Whether you’re 22 or you’re 36, the reality is that you need to be looking at what you’re going to do when cricket finishes, and the more prepared you are for that the better, but who knows what might happen at the end of my career.”

“What I want to do is go on and score hundreds – that’s why I played the game in the first place. That’s what I enjoy most about it – there’s no better feeling in sport, I believe, than that.”

As to whether retirement was even an option at the moment, Key is pretty clear:

“No! Although there might be some people that wish I did retire! I love playing cricket – that’s why I’ve ended up doing what I’ve done, because I want to go back to scoring lots and lots of runs.”

“I haven’t lost love for the game, I’ve lost love for struggling with the bat, and everything else that goes with playing. That’s why I want to hopefully just get back. I really look forward to it – just playing and just concentrating on myself for a bit.”

When asked whether he would be taking any part in Friday night’s Natwest T20 Blast opener against Sussex Sharks at Canterbury, again Key was very clear in his thoughts:

“No. You’re looking at a point where you’ve got Bell-Drummond and Denly now, and even though I played pretty well in there, it just doesn’t sit right with me to see one of those two miss out – there’s three opening batsmen.”

“Deebz is playing really well, and I think there’s more to gain, at this point, from those guys coming in. Who knows what might happen in two or three weeks time, but at the minute, I’ll be there to help out, but I don’t think it’s right that I come into that, after not playing this week as well.”

“I think it’s pretty exciting with those two guys at the top, and I think there’s more to gain from the long-term.”

Key’s decision to have a few weeks away from the first team came after much consultation with Jimmy Adams and Matt Walker and he told KSN how he wouldn’t have been able to do it without their support:

“I think they wanted me to give it one more game, but I’d made my mind up. I said to them that I was in no state to go out there and I didn’t feel in any sort of fit mind to be playing and batting, at that stage.”

“I didn’t think it was fair to continue. I think they understood as well that after a poor start, it was something that had to happen to make sure that bar, as a side, was raised. I just thought it was the best thing for the side, for it to happen. Hopefully more good will come out of it than bad.”

In Key’s last game against Leicestershire last week, the captain was ultimately charged with a level 2 offence for a disagreement with umpire Steve O’Shaughnessy and the skipper was keen to draw a line under it and move on:

“Some consistency would’ve been nice, but I’m not too fussed about that kind of stuff. There’s not one of the players at Kent, in however long I’ve captained, that has got any points.”

“Colesy may have some disciplinary points, but that was from his time at Hampshire, so my record is pretty clean as far as that, and the players that I’ve captained have all been.”

After a difficult start to the season that has seen Kent fail to win any of their opening four County Championship games, Key believes there have been some positives with some of the younger players beginning to show good form:

“It’s good to see Calum Haggett playing. Ivan Thomas, who had a tough start in the last game – we’ve relied a lot on a young kid who’s been injured for a hell of a long time, and I think he’s bowled brilliantly. He’s shown real character.”

“It’s something that’s really pleasing – you’ve got Matt Coles and Ivan Thomas who have come through our system who are starting to lead our attack. It’s been a long time since we probably had that, so I think as tough a start as it’s been, it will stand us in good stead in the long term, where actually there really will be some light at the end of the tunnel if they continue to play like this and if we continue to move forward with the growing that some of these lads are doing.”

“It’s been a tough start, everything that’s happened so far will all come good in the end.”

Last week Sam Billings missed out on selection for England’s One Day International against Ireland in Dublin, but Key believes it is just a matter of time before the Kent wicketkeeper gets his chance:

“I actually think he’s just got to try and continue as he has done. That’s what’s got him there so far. He was unlucky not to play against Ireland, but it wouldn’t have made much difference – he would’ve probably fielded for a few overs and then that was it, then it rained!”

“I think it will be interesting to see which way they go going into one-day cricket. I think there’s a massive opportunity for him, and England, to blood some young, exciting talent, and I think Sam Billings should be one of those.”

“Even if he doesn’t keep, actually, I think he’s got the batting clout to do it. As I said, I think he’s someone who, irrelevant of how he does, you try – he’s got everything you need. You just throw him in and see how he goes.”

“Even if he struggles in international cricket at the start, as everyone does at some stage, I think he’s got everything he needs to get through that pretty quickly and move on. We saw that at Kent last year.”

“I’d like to see him going, much like they did with Joe Root and people, where they haven’t played a lot of cricket, but they get them in the international setup and they’re almost born to be there, so they then thrive in that, and I think Sam Billings is one of those. It would be nice to see him go out there and I think he’ll do very well, and I think he’ll do well early, as well, which would be a good thing.”

Much of the talk this week has surrounded Kevin Pietersen’s exclusion from the England squad and Key has his own view on the maverick batsman:

“I just think it’s very sad that it is where it is. I love watching Kevin Pietersen bat, and I think he’s a fine, fine player. I actually would love to see him playing for England again, but it’s just a very sad scenario where, for whatever’s happened, you’ve got Kevin Pietersen not playing for England.”

“I’m sure there’s reasons on both sides, which I don’t personally know what they are. It’s cricket, it’s not life and death, we’re not saving lives – I just think it’s sad that it’s come to this.”

“It’s a sad situation, the Kevin Pietersen one, but I’m sure, from and England point of view, they would say they’ve managed him for years and done well to get the years out of him they have.”

“It’s just a shame when it comes to that. There’s no doubt in my mind that he is the best player I’ve played with.”