Key is set to unveiled as the ECB's new managing director

Rob Key is set to be unveiled as the ECB’s new managing director after emerging as the stand-out candidate… the long-serving county captain will be in his first management role but he has the respect of players

• Rob Key, 42, is the leading candidate to be the new managing director of ECB
• Would be his first in a management position following seven post-playing years 
• Key is an ex-member of the England Test match and One Day International sides

Two candidates from outside cricket got to the final stages of the recruitment process that concluded with Rob Key emerging as the ECB’s choice for new managing director.

Key, 42, is to be unveiled in the coming days pending the successful conclusion of negotiations on financial terms for the role, his first in a management position following seven post-playing years as a television commentator.

The fact that his first will be in what is English cricket’s top job highlights the paucity of credible alternatives. As does the fact a couple of outsiders got so far.

Rob Key. 42, is set to be unveiled as the England Cricket Board’s new managing director

Last month, acting MD Andrew Strauss said that the game in this country needed to be ‘bold and ambitious’ to address a malaise in Test cricket that has delivered just one win in 17 Test matches, and pursue a path leading to England being the best across all formats.

He has shown a willingness to look outside the box by bringing in Sir Dave Brailsford, director of sport at Ineos Grenadiers cycling, as one of those to assist him in a new review into English cricket.

Receiving input from experts from other sports is something Strauss became familiar with during his time as England captain.

Simon Timson spent six years at the ECB between 2006-12, initially as head of science and medicine and later as head of England’s development programme, having created a legacy of success as performance director for British Skeleton over the preceding 10 years.

It would be the 42-year-old’s first role in management following seven post-playing years

Post ECB, as performance director for UK Sport, he helped Team GB become the first nation to surpass its medal total from a home Olympics, winning 27 golds in Rio in 2016.

Then, at the Lawn Tennis Association, Timson launched a decade-long vision to make ‘Great Britain one of the most respected tennis nations in the world for player development’ by 2028. Three years later, Emma Raducanu became a champion.

The 51-year-old is the kind of individual to fit Strauss’ mantra for something more than incremental change. Timson’s appointment as performance director at Manchester City two years ago arguably discounted him for the ECB but it is understood individuals with similar abilities to prosper across different environments were not discouraged despite their lack of cricket-specific expertise.

However, in Key they have someone with extensive knowledge of the domestic game as a long-serving county captain, who has also maintained the respect of current players despite the tendency for relationships to become spiky when a former player picks up the microphone.

There are further changes in England with Joe Root most recently stepping down as captain

Top of his to-do list when he severs ties with Sky this week will be to appoint a new Test captain following Joe Root’s decision to quit. Root’s resignation clears the path for his close friend and vice-captain Ben Stokes to step up without feeling disloyal.

Stokes, 31, was supportive of Ottis Gibson, twice formerly England bowling coach, getting the job when Trevor Bayliss departed in 2019. But then managing director Ashley Giles was keen on an Englishman and opted to promote Chris Silverwood from within.

Gibson, 53, recently took over at Yorkshire but could nevertheless come into the frame to head the Test team, his preferred format despite winning the Twenty20 World Cup as head coach of West Indies.

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