Rob Key has told KSN he was honoured to have had the captaincy at Kent, but believes he had taken the side as far as he could.

Key was replaced by James Tredwell on Monday morning after seven years in the job, citing various reasons for stepping aside to allow the 30 year spinner to take over the helm.

However, it was because he felt he was worn out with being the skipper that Key decided his time had come to pass on the baton to someone else, although he admitted it might be hard come the new season:

“I suppose it might be hard come the summer as I am used to being in charge. Now all the things you are aware of and all the things you know about, you’re not going to have a clue about and that will be different.”

“I suppose after seven years it is more excitement than disappointment in a way. I have left the job going in an upward curve, rather than a downward one.”

“I still feel I have got the respect of the dressing room, but it feels like the right time to do it.”

The weight of captaincy can weigh heavy on the shoulders of any man and Key admitted it had started to play on his mind even towards the end of the last campaign:

“At the end of every summer you contemplate whether you are doing the right thing. Captains that are doing it for their own name or for the glory are never any good at it. After a while they get found out, so you always think is this the right thing for the side?”

“At the end of the summer I was that tired after that Glamorgan game. I had won the toss and had a bowl. That’s when you think I could do without all of this.”

“You then go out and your brain is still scrambled as you’re so disappointed. I spoke to Jimmy (Adams) at that time and said that I was pretty much done.”

“He was then talking about what we were going to be doing in the winter and the way forward, and I just remember thinking this is the last thing on my mind. I spoke to him and he said you are always going to be tired at this time of year and he said to give it a couple of months to see where you end up and whether you want to do it again.”

“At no point in those couple of months did I really feel I had the energy to get back into it. You always look at this time of year about a two to three year plan and becoming one of the best sides in the country.”

“It took us two to three years to get there in One Day Cricket, bringing in the odd player here or there and if you have to question whether you have got the energy to do that, or the interest to do that, that’s the time to go.”

“Now I feel rejuvinated that I will have the energy to concentrate on myself.”

The Kent opener also joked during the press conference that Tredwell will now have the task of “looking after” the likes of Matt Coles!

Despite rumours existing as to whether Key would give up cricket altogether and go on to work for Sky after wrist surgery last winter and hernia surgery last month, the Kent batsman was keen to stress and no point did he consider walking away from playing:

“I think the injuries contributed a bit towards me just wanting to being a batsman. The injuries take more out of you, especially with my wrist when I spent about a year and a half trying to find ways where it wouldn’t hurt so much.”

“You’ve then got to captain the side and there are times, like in any business where you get people that squabble with one another, they might have a problem here, a problem there and I felt like that was part of the job you had to sort out as a captain.”

“When you’ve got your own struggles as well, it becomes harder.”

“I’ve had my hernia for nearly two years, but after a big wrist operation I thought I’m damned if I’m going in to have a hernia operation and trying to rehab two things, so hopefully now I will be alright.”

“At no stage have I ever thought about walking away from the game and the whole Sky thing is far from assured and easy to do.”

“It’s something I love doing, but not as much as playing cricket. What the future holds for me, I don’t really know and I’m not too sure how much longer I will play for.”

“I have been around a long time, but I still feel I’ve got a while to go and I don’t really see myself finishing.”

“Personally, the thought of not playing cricket has never even crossed my mind. That time will come eventually, but not at this point.”

Next season Key will have to adapt to being just one of the boys in the dressing room. although he admits it won’t see much of a change in approach as he never really acted differently when captaining the side:

“I never really tried to seperate myself from the lads really. There are times in captaincy that you should distance yourself, but that kept me sane.”

“I get on really well with the likes of Mark Davies and before that Joe Denly, and as a captain being able to muck around with someone like Joe and be a big kid, people might have looked at that and thought that’s not right, but actually that’s what kept me fresh.”

“With all the stresses and pressures, being able to muck around with these guys enabled me to do it for the amount of time that I did.”

“I look forward to carrying on like that as they are the things you remember when you play. I am sure the people you talk to when thet have finished will talk about the banter in the dressing room and that is something as cricketers we are privileged to have.”

Key formed a great working relationship with Jimmy Adams since the West Indian took over the coaching duties last winter and from an outsider looking in it was clear to see the two worked well together.

The challenge now for James Tredwell is to work with Adams, get the best out of the side, whilst adopting his own approach to captaincy, but Key feels the spinner will be more than capable of getting the best out of the side, despite not being the loudest of characters:

“Jimmy is a very strong coach and is very clear on the way that he wants the game to be played. He is very clear on the way the cricket side should go and with Treddy, I think they will be a really good partnership.”

“Over the past seven years, Treddy would be someone I’d turn to regularly to ask what I had done well. He was a good sounding board and that’s a good thing for a captain.”

“It doesn’t matter how loud you are, what matters is that when the pressure is on, you get the decisions right.”

“If you keep making poor decisions, people stop following you and I think in Treddy, people will follow him because he has got a very good cricket brain.”

“They have got a lot of respect for him and they will follow him on the back of believing he will make the right call. I got a hell of a lot wrong, but you do things for the right reasons.”

“Without a doubt, James is the natural choice for me.”

The past seven years have seen many highs and lows under Key’s captaincy with winning the Twenty20 Cup in 2007 probably the highlight for many fans, but the former skipper will look back with fondness at the whole period:

“I look at the past seven years in two parts. I look at it being a time at the start of my tenure where we could sit down and really plan how we were going to win stuff, we were able to bring people in as we liked and we got to be one of the best sides in the country.”

“We were just the odd result away from being able to win three or four trophies.”

“The next part I was equally proud of as it was really tough. It’s all very well when you have a good side around you and you have a lot of international cricketers in which to choose from, but the real test is when you are bringing youngsters into the side that are trying to learn their trade.”

“We were getting stick at times because they wanted more than we could deliver. They are the moments when you are put to the test more than any other.”

“I regret the odd toss here and there, like at Lord’s, not doing the right thing there and I will always look at myself rather than anyone else.”

“I suppose as a captain my biggest regrets are some of the personal things like when Matt Walker left. That’s something I didn’t get particularly right and it wasn’t done as I would have liked.”

“When you have to start dealing with your best mates rather than cricket things, that’s when you realise you could have done things better.”

Key will now spend the rest of the winter recovering from his hernia surgery whilst contemplating his own game.

Some quarters have suggested a change of role for Kent’s 32nd captain with a move to bat at number three a real possibility.