Sky Sports commentator and former England cricket star Rob Key suffers mini stroke

Rob Key was yesterday recovering in hospital after suffering a mini-stroke.

The former Kent captain was taken ill at his home near Canterbury on Friday but was well enough on Monday morning to post a picture of himself smiling on his Facebook and Instagram accounts.

‘Long weekend. Turns out I suffered a mini-stroke,’ wrote Key. ‘Thanks to everyone at the Kent and Canterbury hospital, especially Charlie and Dr Baht. Now got to eat food with no flavour and take pills. Triffic.’ 

Key, 41, played 15 Tests for England and made a double hundred against West Indies at Lord’s in 2004 before becoming a Kent stalwart until his retirement five years ago.

But it is in his second career in broadcasting that Key has really started to make a mark, becoming the emerging star of Sky Cricket and an integral part of their lockdown coverage in numerous podcasts and the popular ‘watchalong’ replays of great games.

The highly popular Key, who is known for his dry humour, is releasing his first book ‘Oi Key’ at the end of May and told Sportsmail in an interview earlier this month that he now enjoys talking about cricket more than playing it. 

‘I’ve always backed my cricket brain and thought processes,’ he said. 

‘I just wasn’t always able to do what I was thinking, which was part of my problem as a player. I’ve always enjoyed the intricacies of the game and thought I could stand up my views regardless of how good I was.’

Key was actually a much better player than he gives himself credit for – as his close friend Andrew Flintoff attests to in the forward to Key’s book – and he is now well on the way to becoming one of the best modern voices on the game.

But for now he will have to put that on hold and rest while he recovers fully.