Rob Key: England players have to stop talking garbage

Rob Key exchanged ideas with England players and said they sometimes speak in the media when they say that the results do not matter.

Ben Duckett said he would not matter whether England lost his Odi series in India 3-0 when the Champions Trophy won it. During the ashes in 2023, Zak Crawley said that England was “not about winning or losing, it is about entertainment”.

Messaging is not a new problem for this team, and a angry key previously spoke to the players about the difference between internal chats about playing with freedom and no failure, but focused publicly on the results.

“There is no doubt that we have to get better at interviews,” said Key, Managing Director of England. “We often speak a lot of garbage because they strive so much not to annoy players in the changing room, and do not try to give away something they don’t believe. And then they make headlines.

“There is no world in which the players don’t care, they don’t want to achieve big results. It is absolutely not true that you are not interested in winning that you are arrogant. These are young men and it is not easy to do all of this kind of things. They strive so much that they have a good balance between trying to give an insight into what is going on in the changing room, things that are said, and there is sometimes a reason why Brendon [McCullum, England’s head coach] says what he is doing. “

Key, who spoke for the first time since England’s exit from the Champions Trophy, in which they had lost all three group games, said at Lords, he also said that he was “stupid” to not consider the English white captain, which may have been transferring more responsibility on his shoulders in an Ashes year.

Stokes is currently recovering from the severe thigh injury he has suffered at the end of the New Zealand tour, and still has to prove that he can maintain his twin role as an all-rounder in the test cricket for a number of operations.

But with disorder with the English white ball cricket, after Jos Buttler had paid the price for a third, bad global tournament performance for the bad, consecutive performance, Stokes suddenly developed as a surprising replacement for the replacement to guide all three English teams. However, Harry Brook is considered the leading candidate on the T20 job. This could lead to a split in the roles, although there are no discussions with Stokes, since England monitors its fitness before making specific plans.

“Ben Stokes is one of the best captains I’ve ever seen, so it would be stupid not to look at him. It is only the effect of what that means, ”said Key. “It’s really nothing off the table. You look at every single option and think: “Right, what is the best thing to do?”

“He is an incredibly good tactic that we saw in the test cricket and he is a leader of the men. He is someone who gets the best out of people. He is someone who is able to throw a blanket to throw the players and actually say: “No, no, that is the way forward, continue with it.” And I think you are the things you need in leadership.

“It’s more about what would it mean for him? What would that mean for his workload? We don’t want to risk other things either. But in England there is always a way to look at yourself, what if it goes wrong? You also have to think about what if it goes right? “

Stokes was in Abu Dhabi training with the England Lions and Key says that he was “on the right track” to be fit for the start of the season and to play as an all-rounder. Brook remains the more likely replacement for Buttler because England has to bring the next generation of managers. “Harry Brook will be an excellent captain. It could bring out the best in Harry Brook, just to be able to go out there and feel the additional responsibility. “

Key accepted England tactically and with selections in the Champions Trophy, which was the first challenge for McCullum as head coach in both formats. They were criticized

“Brendon wanted to meet Ravi Shastri and do an interview with him to explain exactly what was going on. He was not there for this interview. But look, I have no problem with the way our boys are doing things, ”said Key.

England was a dimensional at the Champions Trophy, surprisingly on fast bowling and fought at a pace. McCullum encouraged his players to react to a defeat by becoming harder. Jamie Smith’s performance summarized it. He has proven that he can beat responsibility in the test cricket, but when he was promoted to No. 3 on the Odi page, he threw his winds three times, indicating that he followed a plan.

“If you start seeing yourself in recent years in recent years, the stroke has fallen from a cliff in particular,” said Key. “Your only currency as a bat is carried out. You go out there, whether you are one, two, three, it doesn’t matter how quickly you get it. This is the only currency you have. So we could have changed the selection, yes, but the fact is that if you don’t beat well and your strength is a real problem. “

England’s most striking quotes in the Bazball era

1. Zak Crawley, June 2023

The English prelude was in a powerful form after England narrowly lost the ash opener in Edgbaston, but might not have read the room in view of the most important series of everyone.

2. Brendon McCullum, June 2023:

An Ollie Robinson column for Know Pay a lot of attention, especially for the line that the English head coach McCullum had told the team that their defeat in Edgbaston felt like a victory. This was, even though Australia went over the line from an unlikely position thanks to Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon.

3 .. Stuart Broad, June 2023:

In the same column, Robinson threw teammates Broad on the bus, saying that he said that Crawley hit the first ball of the ash for four years, was his favorite Ashes moment … however.

4. Harry Brook, July 2023:

The common use of the term “moral ash” was undoubtedly bothered by Brook, when he claimed that England could take just that with a win in the Oval to reach the series after the hosts had refused the hosts in Old Trafford. After the Bairstow Carey incident at Lord, moral superiority was already claimed in England.

5. Ben Stokes, July 2024:

The clip of Stokes, which says that the dressing rooms mentioned above came in Old Trafford after it was confirmed that Australia would keep the urn, was only published in England and Wales a year later. The quote attracted a lot of attention, especially down under.

6. Ben Duckett, February 2025:

The latest comments in the English kick -off during an unsuccessful tour of India in front of the (also unsuccessful) Champions Trophy campaign were picked up in England, now under McCullum, in all formats to win enough.