Key: England players need full commitment to thrive in ‘Bazball’ era

Rob Key is delighted with the culture Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum have built for England’s Test team but warned that is underlined with a ruthless approach for anyone who does not fully commit.

Captain Stokes, currently sidelined due to injury, and head coach McCullum have won praise for how they have affected a turnaround in England’s Test fortunes with an attractive, attacking brand of cricket and a welcoming environment for players to thrive.

But behind the fun exterior of the ‘Bazball’ philosophy, the success of the past two years has been built on a foundation of hard work and commitment to the cause, with ECB managing director of cricket Key emphasising how there can be no compromise over their demands.

“It’s not easy to do, but what the great leaders have done is they’ve created an environment that people are desperate to play,” Key told Sky Sports.

“Then you have a time like we’ve done, where it’s very relaxed, and you want everyone to go out there and express themselves, and they have a bit of golf, and you have a bit of time off.

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“All we ask in return is that you commit, and I don’t care if you’re on a central contract, if you’re not committed to what we’re doing.

“So, if you’re not someone who’s training as hard as you possibly can, putting everything in and committing to the way that we want to do things, then you’re gone.”

England’s stand-in captain Ollie Pope underlined that when he spoke about the unflinching approach McCullum has taken to keep driving the team forward ahead of this week’s second Test against Sri Lanka.

On the white-ball side as well, experienced duo Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow, who was also omitted from the Test squad this summer in favour of wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith, were left out of the squad for the upcoming one-day international and T20I matches against Australia.

Jacob Bethell and Dan Mousely were called up instead of the pair, who were among those handed central contracts in October last year. Other recipients of a contract at that time include James Anderson and Dawid Malan, who have since retired from international cricket.

Key has no regrets about the 26 contracts, which ranged from one to three years in length, which were awarded during last year’s Cricket World Cup in India though and believes they offer players security as well as ensuring England can balance their availability for the national team and franchise tournaments.

“We pay our players less, especially the top ones, than they can get in franchise cricket, but the one thing we can offer is that security,” Key said.

“So, you look at someone like New Zealand, because there’d be some of those players in New Zealand, we go are you getting paid much more than a New Zealand cricketer?

“Some of their best players are now turning down central contracts. That’s not a position we want to be in, so I don’t regret any of it.

“We can finesse it, course, and there’s always going to be people that you end up looking at and think ‘Well, they’re getting a lot of money for not doing much’. That’s the bet you have sometimes – contracts like that all around the world happen.”

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England have shown no compunction about calling up players from outside the contracted group though, particularly with some of their recent selections for the Test squad who have come in with little first-class experience.

Spinner Rehan Ahmed had only played three red-ball matches for Leicestershire when he made his Test debut away to Pakistan in December 2022, while England’s current front-line spin bowler Shoaib Bashir was called in despite being second-choice to Jack Leach at Somerset and having only played six matches.

Some players, like Ahmed and Tom Hartley, have been selected with specific conditions in mind when touring Pakistan and India. Recent fast-bowling call-up Josh Hull, meanwhile, was brought into the set-up based as much on potential despite only playing 10 first-class matches so far and averaging over 62 with the ball.

Key and the panel of selectors do take note of performances and averages in the County Championship as well, but always have an eye on the future rather than just the here and now. There are certain attributes any potential international players need to have as well.

“You want batters who can put good bowlers under pressure…and you don’t always see that in county cricket,” Key said. “So that’s the judgement you have to make: Who has the talent and ability to do that? And you’re taking a bit of a flyer on that in some ways.

“Then you want batters who can soak it up. So, you need both of those games and some batters when I speak to them and they say ‘Well, how do I get in?’ We say ‘You are very good at soaking up the pressure, not so good at putting the pressure on and that’s what you have to develop’.

“It’s the same thing with bowlers, we want a varied attack. You’d love to have four Mark Woods or Jofra Archers, but that’s not the reality. What you want is people that generally can operate at that pace or above…or if you’re not that, you’ve got to have a huge amount of skill.

“Then you’re looking at variation, and you’re looking at where people are now and where they’re going to be.”

Watch day two of the second Test between England and Sri Lanka at Lord’s, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10.15am on Friday August 30 (first ball, 11am).

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