Key optimistic about one-day series

Robert Key is aiming to enjoy his first one-day series in England blues in the hope of upping the scoring tempo for the remaining two Test matches of the Ashes series.

Key believes the less strict format of the triangular series with Australia and Sri Lanka may help to develop a fresh approach for the Tests at Melbourne and Sydney over Christmas and New Year.

"I'm going to go out there to enjoy it, try a few things out that you don't get the chance to do in Test cricket and hopefully if we take them into the Tests it might work," said Key, who has joined the one-day squad in Sydney while Michael Vaughan rests his sore right knee.

"They're a really good side, but all they do is the basics really well. They don't run up and bowl magic balls at you, they bowl outside off stump and they don't let you score a run.

"They are good but it's their discipline that counts. None of their bowlers run up and bowl big outswingers, they know exactly how to bowl and set the fields according to how each of them bowls and their discipline and their basics are what it is all about.

"They bowl in a decent place and give themselves a chance of getting you out - they very rarely bowl you a bad ball. There are ways to combat someone bowling outside off stump, leaving it and things like that, because it's not as if you're out there wondering how you're going to survive, you're just wondering how you're going to score."

England captain Nasser Hussain tried unsuccessfully to charge Glenn McGrath in the Perth test, while Key was trapped leg before walking across his stumps.

Nasser tried it a bit when I was batting with him in the last Test when McGrath just wasn't bowling a bad ball," explained Key. "He started running at him and I tried walking across a couple of times but I was out lbw - you have to work on a couple of things just to try and break up his rhythm.

"I enjoy one-day cricket because it gives you a chance to play your shots a bit more, particularly against these boys when you're fighting for every run, leaving a lot and deciding whether or not to have a go.

"Sometimes you can't wait for a bad ball out here and you have to try and make something out of nothing. This is a good chance to try a few things and possibly take things into the Test series."

England's build-up for the first section of the one-day series - matches against Australia in Sydney and Melbourne, and against Sri Lanka in Brisbane and Perth - with day-nighters against strong New South Wales and Australia A sides at the SCG over the next few days.

"After being beaten pretty comprehensively in three games it gives us a chance to get out there and get a few wins and get something positive to look at rather than almost drowning your sorrows," admitted Key.

"This will hopefully give us the chance to get a bit of confidence. It's my first tour, but I just find it a bit bizarre to play a one-day series in the middle of a Test series. I suppose it's come at quite a good time where we can come away with something positive - if we play well in this series it can only do us good going into the last two Tests."

Admirer of the Australian side though he may be, Key admits to being less impressed by the standards of the sledging dished out to him during the last two Tests.

"Steve Waugh called it mental disintegration, but I wouldn't call it that - they're just talking rubbish most of the time," Key said. "I quite enjoy all the banter.

"When they start getting at you I try and stare them down or try and come back with something if I've got something decent stored up. They're no different from anyone really. They might be the best team in the world but their sledging's pretty ordinary."

England will practice under lights tomorrow before Friday's match against a New South Wales line-up which includes seven players with Test experience for Australia, including McGrath, both Waugh brothers, Brett Lee and Stuart MacGill.