Rob Key on a coach’s role, the changes England might make in St Lucia and in-form Windies | Cricket News

What are the key roles of a cricket coach? What changes will England make in St Lucia? Here’s Rob Key…

In your opinion, what is the role of a coach at the top level of cricket?

The responsibility for performance should primarily be with the players but if it’s totally with the players then there is no point having a coach. Then you might as well have a PA to organise your day!

I have always seen it that a coach is there to shortcut a process. If you are out of form as a player you want a coach to help you get back into it fast.

A coach should pass on the knowledge he has of different situations.

On a fruity pitch in Antigua last week, for example, I imagine Trevor Bayliss and batting coach Mark Ramprakash would have been running the batsmen through options.

You shouldn’t have to tell someone exactly how to play, you should be giving them choices and then relying on them to make the ones they think are right.

You have to remember, as well, that England have a lot of specialist coaches so Bayliss has to manage them as well as the players.

For me the head coach should challenge players in great nick to be even better and cajole and help the ones struggling to get back into form.

Do you think Test cricket will be a focus when England select Trevor Bayliss’ successor, much like white-ball cricket seemed to be when Bayliss came in?

I certainly don’t think England have neglected Test cricket under Bayliss.

In a way, these batting collapses and struggles away from home have been a long time coming because of the conditions in our first-class cricket – playing at tough times of the year at the start and end of the season.

I don’t think we are not doing as well in Test cricket as we would like because we are too focused on the World Cup, or that it is Bayliss’ fault that we are not nailing it with our batsmen in the Test game.

The role of England coach will be an attractive one for anyone but if you go for experience all the time then you are never going to find the next great coach, so I don’t think England should be limited to going for someone with an international CV.

They need to keep the net as wide as possible and try to find the best person possible.

A lot of people are getting praise for Windies’ series win – but what impact do you think director of cricket Jimmy Adams has had?

I know Jimmy from my time at Kent and he is a very good judge of a cricketer.

What Windies have clearly done is earmark players they are going to invest in, even if their numbers, at this stage, don’t blow you away.

Shai Hope averages less than thirty in Test cricket but people say he is going to be a class international batsman; Shimron Hetmyer looks a class act, a superstar, but he only averages 34 in first-class cricket.

Whoever picked out Jason Holder a few years ago, gave him the job of captain and then backed him throughout some very difficult times deserves credit because they are starting to see a return on that investment. Add Kraigg Brathwaite to that, too.

We must have about 300 or 400 county cricketers in England and they probably don’t have half that in the Caribbean, so they are forced to get their picks right. That’s what they are doing right now.

In terms of Holder’s over-rate ban, I don’t think you can argue against the laws, to be honest, but maybe the punishment.

I cannot stand slow play. I know it has a bearing when wickets are tumbling but you can get around that as a captain.

For Holder, this is a second offence so I don’t think he can have any complaints, although it’s a shame he is missing the Test match because of what he has done in the first two.

How severe are England’s batting problems – and who can fix them?

We’ve had so many suggestions from so many different people and tried so many different things regarding the batting and other names will be mentioned before the Ashes.

Jason Roy will probably be knocking on the door, plus people know I am a big fan of Kent’s Zak Crawley.

But I struggle to see a better 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 than we have at the moment and I think they need to be given a good crack at it.

Yes, we are picking three wicketkeepers but two of those are undoubtedly two of our best batsmen, in Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler.

Bairstow and Joe Root are our best three and four – I couldn’t care less which way round they bat – Buttler is our best No 5 and Ben Stokes is our best No 6 and all-rounder.

Ben Foakes has then more done more than fine. He is an excellent gloveman and if he scores his runs at an average of 30 or 35 in Test cricket, that is acceptable for a No 7.

We have been down the road of chopping and changing and if we keep doing that we won’t get anywhere. These lads need to be stuck with as we look a to cement a batting order. That shouldn’t change because of a bad performance on a sporting pitch in Antigua.

What changes do you think England will make for the St Lucia Test?

I think Sam Curran might drop out. He has had a fantastic start to his Test career but probably about 80 per cent of that has been through his batting.

You pick your best batsmen, a keeper and all-rounder and then your best bowlers for the conditions. I don’t care if you have three No 11s – if they are your best bowlers, get them in.

In English conditions, Curran might be in your best bowling line-up but in these conditions he is probably not. Bowlers have, and always will, miss out due to conditions.

That might open the door for Chris Woakes or Mark Wood or, if it looks like it is going to turn, Jack Leach. Wood may edge it if England want extra pace but I don’t think Woakes is that slow, so I would go with whoever looks in better nick in the nets.

Any of our bowlers can get wickets if we can get 400-plus on the board. Just look at what happened with Roston Chase in Barbados – he got eight-for because Windies batted England into the ground.

Finally, we saw a brilliant blocking effort from Darren Bravo in Antigua – what is the best block-athon you have seen?

I remember Michael Atherton and Jack Russell saving the Test for England in Johannesburg in 1995, while New Zealand opener Mark Richardson used to love blocking the life out of it.

Some people would say that is a lost art nowadays but I don’t believe England need to go about finding players like Brathwaite and Cheteshwar Pujara. You just need players who can adapt to different situations.

Sir Ian Botham could block for his life if needs be and he was one of the most positive, aggressive cricketers there has ever been, while Alastair Cook, pigeonholed as this stubborn opener, could score quickly at times.

Let’s hope England show their ability to adapt in St Lucia.

Watch the third Test between Windies and England, in St Lucia, live on Sky Sports Cricket (channel 404) from 1.30pm on Saturday. You can also follow over-by-over commentary and in-play clips on our rolling blog on skysports.com and the Sky Sports app.