Rob Key: wrapped up in cricket’s cosy world but still England’s figure of hope | Barney Ronay

He may play golf with Zak Crawley’s dad but the fascinating man at the helm of the English game has no personal agenda

At lunchtime on a slow-burn third day of this second Test, the kind of day when for long periods cricket simply happens quietly, waiting to happen more urgently, a sudden splash of colour appeared on the Old Trafford outfield.

Rob Key looked radiant in front of the Sky TV cameras, wedged like a ripe Kent spartan apple between Kumar and Wardey, looking slim and fit in ice-white trainers and executive knitwear, here to talk about the things that need to be talked about – the review of the review, the scheduling of schedule, mate, all that – three months into his role as English cricket’s managing director.