ROBERT KEY must have felt like a jockey booked to ride at Ludlow on Grand National day; nothing that he could have done would have compensated for missing the main event. It was only a year ago that the Kent batsman was flailing West Indies for 221 in the corresponding Test at Lord’s. Now, he finds himself not only out of the England team but sitting behind at least two others on the substitutes’ bench.

Yesterday, Key was below his fluent best against a Surrey attack that contained five bowlers with international experience. It took him 43 balls to make 15, he was dropped on 28 and also outscored by all three of his partners. However, he still contributed a useful half-century as Kent eased past a notional follow-on mark of 302.

Conditions at the Woodbridge Road ground were perfect for Key: a flat pitch and a small, parched outfield that rarely threatened the larger-built batsman with the prospect of having to run a two. He began to find the middle of his bat with a well-timed pull to deep backward square and three balls after he was missed by Jonathan Batty, the wicketkeeper, diving down the leg side, he lifted Mohammad Akram over the long-leg boundary.

Nayan Doshi, the left-arm spinner, was greeted with two thumping shots through the covers but, making room for a third boundary in the same over, Key was bowled for 65 from 99 balls. The sound of willow on door that followed his return to the dressing-room suggested he knew that marginally improving his batting average to 61.4 after 15 championship innings would not be enough to nudge the selectors.

Key was outshone by Matthew Walker, the equally chunky left-hander, who pulled two sixes over square leg and struck 14 fours in reaching his third century of the season off 120 balls.

Walker shared an unbeaten stand of 206 with Justin Kemp, the South Africa all-rounder, for the fifth wicket. Kemp, who had not previously bettered 32 in any form of the game in his two months with Kent, eased to a hundred that contained a six and 17 fours off 125 balls.

Surrey lost three wickets for 58 runs in the first hour, including that of Alistair Brown, who twitched at a ball from Amjad Khan and was caught behind for 107.

Brown reached his century on Wednesday evening, but it is unlikely that he was bought a celebratory drink by either Graham Thorpe or Azhar Mahmood. Brown farmed the bowling to face 111 of the 153 balls in his fourth-wicket partnership of 98 with an increasingly frustrated Thorpe, and he was prepared to let Azhar be run out by the length of the pitch as he scrambled his 100th run, only for Kent’s fielders to fumble the chance.

Aware that his side batted for too long in their last championship match, away to Gloucestershire, Mark Ramprakash pulled out early and was rewarded with the wicket of his opposite number, David Fulton, who was caught at second slip off Azhar in the last over before lunch. Martin van Jaarsveld was caught behind for a bright 36 and Darren Stevens was leg-before without scoring but even though the odd ball kept low, a result is likely to depend upon declarations.