Sam Billings, England's golden reserve keeper
England's newest X-factor in limited overs cricket
Sam Billings is an unflustered cricketer. He is a hard-working 23-year-old, who worked his way up the Kent ranks to earn an England cap. When it finally arrived, England were in the midst of a transformation in limited overs cricket - from an old, unimaginative side to a flamboyant, expressive one.
The move worked well for Billings, who was considered one among the many who were capable of vitalising the transformation. A wicket-keeper batsman, Billings had fallen behind the pecking order to an incredible talent in Jos Buttler. But he was a good batsman, who did not need the keeping mitts to earn a cap.
He showed his potential in a terrific half-century in just his third T20 outing when blasted a 25-ball 53 in the first T20 of the Pakistan-England series at Dubai. Billings took. England to a fighting total of 160, earning the Man of the Match award.
Early career
Making his first-class debut for Loughborough against Northamptonshire, Billings, hit a century on his debut in 2011. But it was his 143 for Kent against Derbyshire in 2012 (the highest by a Kent player then in One Dayers) that made people take notice.
By 2014, he was Kent's first choice keeper and 693 runs in the 2015 County Championship made him a favourite among the Kent crowd. An England debut in limited over formats followed soon.
More accolades would follow in the form of contracts in the Pakistan Super League and Indian Premier League sides. The latter, in fact, turned out to be a life-changing experience for Billings.
The similarity to AB de Villiers
Having come from a family that has its roots deep in sports, Billings had a handful of options. He played tennis for Kent and had a trial with English Premier League side, Tottenham Hotspur as well. His grandfather was a racket hero and his cousin brother, Tom Billings, is a reputed racket player.
Billings was good at racket too and thus feels that his batting improved as a result of playing racket, from which he improved his hand eye coordination. His interests remained fully in cricket, though, despite playing multiple sports like the South African superman, de Villiers.
The IPL contract that changed him
Billings was signed up by Delhi Daredevils in the 2016 IPL auctions for £30,000. The England keeper dazzled on his debut making a half-century and going on to play four more games in the season.
When Delhi’s campaign was again done and dusted, and Billings ended up with only five games. However, he improved as a player courtesy of former Indian batting stalwart, Rahul Dravid. 'The Wall’ instilled some valuable skills in Billings and the experience was a phenomenal one for the youngster.
He is turning out for the Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash this time around and has already made some useful scores, averaging 31.25 before leaving for India with the England team.
Role in the England setup thus far
Billings might be a good T20 player but his major forte is One Day cricket and England are aware they have a more than useful talent at their disposal. But using him right is as important.
In T20s, Billings has never batted above no.6 for England and his opportunities have been limited. He isn't a Buttler kind of player who smashes from ball one but rather a Michael Hussey kind of a player, who builds an innings and then explodes.
In 6 ODIs, he has been used above no.7 only once – when he opened in Bangladesh in the absence of the regular Alex Hales. The 25-year-old made a superb 62 off 69 balls to set a strong platform for the middle order in a chase of 278.
Future in the limited overs setup
While the opening berth may not be vacant anytime soon, with the kind of cricket Jason Roy and Alex Hales have been playing of late, Billings definitely needs to bat up the order.
He was pushed to no. 3 in the absence of Joe Root in the warm-up game against India A and promptly made a match winning 93 whilst chasing 305. Root should be back for the first ODI and would most likely take over that position from Billings.
But is no.7 his place? Not with England pushing up Morgan and Buttler to 4 and 5 of late. James Vince tried to fill the no. 4 slot but failed to nail it down and Morgan was pushed to that spot with little success.
Billings could be England's future no. 4 and the role would fit him perfectly coming in behind Root and with Morgan, Buttler, Ali and Stokes to follow. He likes batting with that kind of freedom and has more often than not delivered for Kent in such situations.
The keeper conundrum
All said and done, things are more difficult than it seems as he is considered a keeper and England having quite a good period with keepers. They have Buttler doing a fantastic job for them as a finisher and in Tests. Meanwhile, Bairstow has been racking up runs by the gallons, finishing behind Root as the second highest run-getter in the World in 2016.
Bairstow is not a bad limited overs batsman himself and has a wide array of strokes. With the kind of Test firm behind him, he might just edge out Billings for that vacant no. four role.
Bairstow was given a chance to present his case in the second warm-up game against India A and made 64 off 65 balls batting at no. 3. This would only further aggravate the conundrum for England but they wouldn't lose sleep over the plethora of options.
The shining attitude of Billings
Even when things look bleak for this talented 25-year-old, he has a terrific attitude, which he possibly imbibed from Rahul Dravid during his period with the Delhi Daredevils. After the first warm-up match, Billings was heard responding to a query about how he may not get a game despite his heroics in the warm-up.
“You cannot afford to be disappointed or feel sorry for yourself," Billings said as revealed by ESPNCricinfo.
"It is a professional sport at the end of the day. Joe Root is one of the batsmen in the world - top-three without a doubt.
"It is a great thing for English cricket, isn't it? A strong squad makes the team even stronger on a long tour. With the Champions Trophy coming up, the bigger the squad, the stronger the squad, the better."
He was unselfish and to the point. He took his chances with glee but remained grounded knowing that he needs to put in a lot of work before he can think of edging out Buttler, Bairstow or Root.
The backup keeper went on to add that he tries to offer the team whatever he can, whether it be opening the batting, taking up the gloves or finishing an innings.
"I will still work as hard as I can in all aspects of my game. If something happens to Jos, I want to be able to come in a backup keeper as well and be one of the best fielders I can as well. At the end of the day, I just try to show people what I can be in a different role to what I am normally accustomed to", Billings continued.
Billings is an exceptional player of spin bowling and he may not have to wait long at the sidelines since England are in India now.
All said and done; to have a reserve player with that kind of attitude is a blessing for England and there is a lot more to come from this talented lad from Kent.