Richard Blakey, meanwhile, after keeping wicket at this venue for 19 seasons, reckons it will be uneven and the bowlers should have a field day.
Yorkshiremen have rarely shied away from offering an opinion on any subject, but one of the joys of the Headingley Test is that nobody knows what will take place. David Byas, the Yorkshire coach, thinks it will be a belter and the batsmen will prosper. The England captain feels there will be times when the surface favours batsmen and others when it looks like a minefield. Michael Vaughan believes the pitch at Headingley will go through phases. By the time he fell, lbw to the persevering Glenn Chapple, he was 20 short of that double century, but Key had helped earn Kent their first maximum batting bonus points of the season.. The three boundaries hit off the second over of the morning, bowled by Dominic Cork, underlined that notion.Key did lose his opening partner, David Fulton, midway through the morning session, Steven Crook getting one to pitch middle and hit off, but for the bulk of the day the bat dominated on a benign track.Clearly, being overlooked by England has not dimmed Key’s enthusiasm or determination.

He reached the 19th hundred of his career after almost three hours at the crease By then, Key had reached his 21st. He was obviously looking for a double, especially given the pain of his last outing, against Surrey at the Oval – he lost his wicket on 199.Throughout his six-hour stint yesterday there was the impression that he would make it this time. The pair rarely looked troubled, no matter what piece of armoury Lancashire used against them.Smith’s previous highest this season had been in the 30s, but he batted better and better as the day wore on. And like Key, this was his maiden hundred at the picturesque Neville Ground. By the close those positions had been reversed and there was a whole raft of runs between the two teams.The bulk of those runs had come from Key and Ed Smith, who between them had put on 229 in 58 entertaining overs for the second wicket, a record for Kent against Lancashire Like Key, Smith also reached three figures. Just two points separated the two sides before the start of the day, with Lancashire holding the whip hand in second place in the table, to Kent’s fifth. As for the toiling Lancashire side they looked shattered after conceding 400 runs for the first time this summer.

He scored his fifth hundred in seven first-class innings for the county here yesterday, although a double hundred still eludes him.
But even before he had reached three figures Key had passed another landmark, becoming the first player to score 1,000 runs for the season. England may not want him, but Kent are certainly glad of him. Robert Key is nothing if not prolific. David Sales fell first ball and although Swann survived Batty’s hat-trick attempt it was not long before an ill-judged clip had him caught at mid-wicket.Only Usman Afzaal stayed long amid the carnage but he was tempted into a fatal hook by Matt Mason, the only successful seamer.Success for Brown in his third over, when Moore popped up a catch at short leg, raised expectations of similar damage being inflicted on the visitors but by the close Stephen Peters was unbeaten on 63 and as Graeme Hick was still with him, Worcestershire expect to build a decent lead today.. But Batty, introduced after 38 minutes, struck in his third over, bowling Roberts on the back foot, and thereafter it was largely downhill.Martin van Jaarsfeld was caught off bat and pad and Huggins, having completed a half-century containing five fours and two sixes, was lured down the track and stumped. Indeed, given that Worcestershire then reached 119 in reply for the loss of only Stephen Moore, the pitch can be absolved.It started well enough for the home side, openers Tim Roberts and Tom Huggins sharing a solid partnership of 58. Batty turned some deliveries sharply but it was able rather than assisted bowling and Northamptonshire’s batting was not blameless.