ANOTHER man’s misfortune has helped Kent's Robert Key secure a ninth Test cap at Lord’s on Thursday.

Key, originally called into England’s 13-man squad for the first npower Test against the West Indies as cover for Mark Butcher, will now play after the Surrey player suffered a double injury blow.

Having pulled his hamstring in Surrey’s twenty20 Cup clash with Kent, Butcher’s involvement in a car accident on Monday left him nursing whiplash injuries and clinched Key’s chances of taking on the Windies.

Though Key admits he has yet to do himself justice at the top level, he hopes to reward the even-handed selectors by grabbing this latest opportunity with both hands.

“You don’t get too many chances in Test cricket and to be fair to them (the selectors) I’ve had a few already,” admitted Key. “It would be nice to make a hell of a lot more of it than I have so far.”

Butcher, who has played in England’s 42 previous Tests, failed a fitness test on Wednesday morning, ensuring Kent will have two representatives in a Test for the second time in as many months.