BEING in the right place at the right time can play a huge part in the development of a sportsman’s career, so little wonder Kent cricketer Rob Key is ruing his luck right now.

With senior batsmen Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick ruled out of England’s touring party in India, Key might rightfully have expected to be packing his bags and heading for Nagpur and this week’s first Test.

Instead, Kent’s newly appointed captain is enduring regular physiotherapy and having gentle net sessions on the road to recovery from last November’s shoulder surgery.

With Key sidelined, Essex rookie Alastair Cook and the enigmatic Middlesex batsman Owais Shah have been given call-ups to India forcing the luckless Key further down the Test pecking order.

Talking after yet another mobility stint with the Kent physiotherapist Nimmo Reid, Key said: "When I had the Arthurscope operation they went in with a mini camera and surveyed the damage in my shoulder, at which time the surgeon realised it looked a hell of a lot worse than he’d originally thought.

"Initially I’d hoped to have the surgery and had set myself a goal of getting fit for the Academy tour of the West Indies and on stand-by for the full side, but in the end that wasn’t a realistic target.

"I’ve been batting steadily in the nets for two weeks now and that’s going fine, but I’m still nowhere near being able to throw a ball, which at the moment would leave me useless in the field.

"I’m hoping by pre-season training in April I’ll be a competent thrower again, though I’m told I’ll never get the shoulder back to how it was."

Key added: "It’s been a very long road back. Until mid-February I’d been spending three or four days a week at the ECB National Academy working on my rehabilitation, but for that, I wouldn’t be anywhere near being able to bat.

"I am pain free when I bat now so that’s a small step in the right direction. As it is now, I have to put the Caribbean and India to one side, get myself fit for the start of the county season and race out of the blocks for Kent.

"If anything, that’s what’ll get me back in the England side rather than scoring a few runs for the Academy in the West Indies.

"There is a little pecking order at the moment and I feel that whoever comes out of the blocks hard at the beginning of the domestic summer will be in pole position for a place against Sri Lanka."

As for his new role as county skipper, Key has spent the winter busily resolving issues with his overseas players and working out managerial responsibilities with director of cricket Graham Ford and first team coach Simon Willis.

"There are so many factors involved and a few more than even I expected," said Key.

"Take the overseas players, we have to consider who is available to come over, how long they can come over for, how much they’ll want and whether they may be called up suddenly.

"In the end we’ve gone for two players with as much international experience as possible in Andrew Hall and Justin Kemp.

"It was dragging on, but the club were very good in giving us the time and the budget we wanted and I’m hoping they’ll prove good signings again."