HOUSE hunting and chilling out on his Playstation are the main things on Kent batsman Rob Key's mind after his return from England's tour of South Africa.

The 25-year-old is looking to invest his hard-earned tour fees in bricks and mortar just a tad closer to Canterbury than his bachelor pad in Beckenham, but Key's secondary aim was to take his mind off cricket and chill out with his friends and family.

A seemingly relentless string of five Tests, many of them back-to-back, ended in team triumph with England's first series win in South Africa for 40 years.

But Key flew home with the media vultures already circling and questioning his Test class after a disappointing return of 153 runs from his three Test appearances at an average of 25.5.

Former England skipper Mike Atherton went on the record to say Key lacked the technique to occupy a top-five Test berth, while South African radio pundit Neil Manthorpe voiced concerns over Key's unathletic build - referring to him as a 'throw back'.

"It's fair to say I didn't feel in great nick all tour, but I managed to get 83 in Johannesburg and in some ways was guilty of throwing away a hundred there," said the former Langley Park School prodigy.

"Cricket's like that some times, you only need look at the last Test to understand that it can work against you days.

"At Centurion I glanced one leg-side to the keeper that might have gone for four and then got my feet slightly wrong in the second dig to go leg before for the first time on tour."

As for fitness issues, Key added: "I guess you might say it's the bane of my life. My fitness is generally pretty good and I've been working hard at it for the past four years now but that doesn't seem enough for some people.

"Aerobically I'm fine and normally I'm in the top five at squad fitness sessions, in fact, when I was at the ECB Academy I came first in all the bleep tests.

"Other people seem to be able to eat and drink what they like without any adverse effect, but I'm not like that and I guess it'll always be something that dogs me."

Happy to be putting his feet up ahead of pre-season training, Key was quick to point out just how mentally draining the England squad found their South African sojourn.

"We all knew the historical aspect of winning over there but to be honest the most pleasing thing for the players was to win the series despite the rigours of the tour," added Key.

"Every Test went five days and you have to bare in mind that South Africa play it hard.

"Throughout the trip you never really got away from thinking about cricket and couldn't really switch off from the game, over that length of time that can be psychologically sapping and that really took its toll on us all toward the end.

"For batsmen it was a very mentally tiring tour, especially with so many back-to-back matches.

"The humidity in Durban was unbelievable, and the lads spent the last couple of days in the field yet three days later we were back in the field in the heat of Cape Town."