CRICKET: WALKER SAYS KEY HUNDRED IS REWARD FOR OPENER’S HARD WORK

Rob Key’s first championship hundred since May last year wasn’t lost on Kent assistant coach and his former team-mate Matt Walker. Key scored 113 on the opening day of the LV=County Championship clash with Division 2 leaders Lancashire at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, on Tuesday. It was the first time the former England batsman had reached three figures since scoring 126 against Surrey at Canterbury and Walker was pleased for him. He said: “Keysy lives for runs, so I know how tough it has been for him because he hasn’t been scoring as many as he would have liked. “But what people don’t see is all the hard work he’s done behind the scenes and believe me, he’s been putting it in.” After this week’s game, Kent hit the road to play Glamorgan at Cardiff in the penultimate championship match of the season starting next Wednesday (September 9).

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Picture: Barry Goodwin FM3992296 Ashford United (in yellow) go on the attack against Canterbury City at Reachfields on Monday