Rob Key

Rob Key joked that he would have to "weigh up how much golf" he would be able to play as managing director of England men's cricket when first linked with the role, but eventually decided to make the jump from the Sky Sports commentary box into the ECB offices. He had soon appointed Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum as captain and coach, telling supporters to "buckle up and get ready for the ride".

As a player, Key became synonymous with Kent. Born in East Dulwich, he spent his entire professional career at the county, including nine seasons as captain. He was marked down for great things ever since he helped England win the Under-19 World Cup in South Africa early in 1998. Never the sleekest, Key's waistline expanded along with his burgeoning reputation as a batter; his trademark shot was a back-foot biff through the covers, while his off-drive on the front foot pleased the purists too.

He scored over 1000 runs for Kent in 2001 and he came back from a winter under Rod Marsh's tuition in Adelaide leaner and hungrier: more runs propelled him past Ian Bell into the England side when two batting vacancies emerged. A couple of gutsy innings followed in Australia, although he displayed a worrying propensity for getting out when set, especially just after a break in play. But in 2004, he burst back into the limelight, scoring 1000 first-class runs by the second day of June and cracking a magnificent 221 against West Indies at Lord's in his first Test appearance for over a year.

It would prove to be his only Test hundred. He did not kick on in South Africa in 2004-05, scoring an important half-century in the series-clinching victory at Johannesburg, but finishing the tour with an average of 25. Kevin Pietersen and Alastair Cook's emergence pushed him further down the pecking order, and he never played enough Tests, despite regularly captaining England's A team.

He was appointed captain at Kent in 2006, a role which he hoped would "enhance, not hamper" his career, and despite his self-confessed shortcomings in the white-ball game, he led them to a memorable Twenty20 Cup triumph at Edgbaston the following summer. He remained in the selectors' thoughts, as demonstrated by an unbeaten 178 for Kent against the touring New Zealanders, and was a contender for the vacancy in England's batting order for the final Test of the 2009 Ashes. But Jonathan Trott was preferred, made a century on debut, and Key slowly became yesterday's man.

By the time he gave up the Kent captaincy at the end of 2012, he had disappeared off the international radar, but it proved a harder role than anticipated to give up: barely 18 months later, it was his again. He finally gave it up for good ahead of the 2016 summer, calling it quits and moving seamlessly into a second career in the media. He quickly became a popular member of Sky's commentary team, until he decided that the opportunity to oversee the regeneration of England's Test side was too good to pass up.