Andrew Strauss: 'There has to be life after James Anderson'

But when he returned to the job on an interim basis in early 2022, in the wake of a 4-0 Ashes defeat in Australia, his call to leave Anderson and Broad at home while England toured the Caribbean blindsided both players. "It's always that balance between focusing on what's good about a team and thinking about improving areas to be competitive down the line," Strauss reflects.

"Coming in in an interim capacity, you talk to people about what was wrong with that set-up. No-one ever had any doubts that Broad and Anderson would come back and play at home; playing away from home, they've definitely shown that there was a lot more life in them. You've got to give them both huge credit for that.

"But the principle is the same as it is now: England had been particularly poor away from home, so the focus was always on trying to find bowlers that could perform in overseas conditions. The skills required away from home are slightly different to the skills you need at home - fast bowlers, reverse-swing bowlers, good spinners, all the stuff that our game doesn't naturally produce - so we need to get game-time into people who've got potential."

England used six seamers in that series, of whom only Mark Wood is a certain starter - fitness permitting - when they next play overseas, in Pakistan this winter. Chris Woakes led the attack but has not played away from home since, while Craig Overton, Matt Fisher and Saqib Mahmood have battled injuries and Ollie Robinson's career is at a crossroads.

There is a wide cast of potential successors which also includes Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue, Matt Potts, Olly Stone and Sam Cook. But Key has admitted that he and the rest of England's selection panel will have to take "punts'' as to who has the attributes required to perform at international level: he does not believe that the County Championship in its current guise closely replicates Test cricket.

The Professional Cricketers' Association is pushing for a revamped schedule following a player survey which revealed frustration and concern about the volume of cricket. For Strauss, whose recommendations were rejected by the counties after he led an extensive "high-performance review" into English cricket, it is a story which feels all too familiar.

"It's just pointless to have that conversation," he says. "There was an opportunity last year and the game chose not to take it. No-one is going to touch it with a bargepole anytime soon. You reap what you sow. It is the counties' choice as to what they do, but I do hope that they listen to their players going forward. Sometimes, I feel like there's more focus on the members than the players."

Strauss' principle recommendations were to cut the number of Championship fixtures each county plays from 14 to 10; to play 50-over cricket at the start of the English summer; and to play four-day friendlies alongside the Hundred in August. Key suggested recently that it was a mistake to frame the review solely around 'high performance' but Strauss disagrees.

"We'd just lost an Ashes series, and all the conversation was: how do we make sure that we have a structure that produces genuine high performance? That was the remit. When you're looking through that lens, you have to say, how closely does domestic cricket match the needs that are required in international cricket?

"The answer is, it doesn't - especially when you're playing most of your games in April, May and September. None of those issues have been resolved." Strauss is happy that other recommendations - such as the Kookaburra ball trial - have been implemented, but predicts: "This conversation is just going to go on and on. Everything is a trade-off."

A common criticism of Strauss' review was that it barely mentioned the Hundred and its mid-summer window. "But that wasn't part of our remit," he insists. "Personally, I feel like we have to invest in the Hundred, and make it the second-biggest short-form tournament in the world. That's the way the game is going. I actually think the Hundred is a solution to a lot of the problems in the game."

But these are no longer Strauss' problems. These days, he can devote as much time to padel as cricket, through his role as executive chair of TTB Sport Capital, a marketing, investment and advisory group which is running the Hurlingham Club event to raise funds for the charity Laureus Sport for Good.

His only active involvement in cricket is as a member of Rajasthan Royals' advisory board and he is enjoying the opportunity to be "on the outside" of English cricket after a lifetime involved in the game. "There's a perspective you gain from being outside the bubble," he says.

"When you're in it, everything feels so important. You feel like the whole world has a strong opinion on everything you do. But then you realise that, actually, it's only a small little bubble and that the world goes on. I'm still passionately supporting England whenever they play - but having that perspective is good."