Kentish Express Ashford & District
Key produces his best
ROB KEY’S best ever one day score helped Kent Spitfires to a crushing eight-wicket win over the Netherlands in Yorkshire Bank 40 Group A at Tunbridge Wells on Monday.
The 101st Festival Week began with a flourish as an excellent batting track gave the visitors the chance to post an imposing target of 249-5.
However, former skipper Key produced a swashbuckling knock of 144 not out which took him third on the list of the county’s highest one-day innings behind Carl Hooper and Andrew Symonds.
Symonds’ top score of 146 was also achieved at the Nevill Ground, against Lancashire in 2004, and would have been equalled by Key, had the final two runs of the Kent chase been awarded to him rather than leg byes.
Spitfires skipper James Tredwell hailed the innings as ‘magnificent’ but modest Key added: “It was a good wicket. As good as I’ve played on at Tunbridge Wells.
“It’s normally good for batting but that was even better – a great wicket to play one-day cricket on.
“I always think people want to see runs and boundaries rather than a seaming snake pit where the ball is hard work.”
Key revealed: “When a side gets 250 in 40 overs you think you’re up against it but when we got out there we realised it was a good pitch.
“The bowlers actually did a pretty good job today and in the end we got home pretty easily. At halfway we didn’t quite know what was going to happen.
“We got off to a decent start, which we’d spoken about. We didn’t feel we did at Sussex on Sunday the way we would have liked, so it was good to put it in place.
‘We played with a lot more freedom. It’s good when you have a chat about something to see it work’
“We played with a lot more freedom. It’s good when you have a chat about something to see it work. It’s pleasing because we weren’t right on Sunday.”
The former Kent skipper went second on the all-time Kent one-day century list with seven but revealed he had no idea he was closing in on his best limited overs score.
The 34-year-old admitted: “I had no idea. In the last over I had to ask what they got because I couldn’t remember if it was 250 or 260-odd. My maths is so bad I tend to get in a real muddle. “I suppose these milestones mean something to me but to be honest, if I’ve made seven or eight, with the number of games I’ve played, I really should have
made more.”