If the secret of comedy is timing then Kent and England batsman Sam Billings might think of pursuing an alternative career in stand-up once his cricketing days are done, writes Mark Pennell.
In the very week England’s selectors had turned their thoughts to selecting their Twenty20 squad for the upcoming matches against Sri Lanka, so Billings hit his top form with eye-catching aplomb.
The 24-year-old posted an unbeaten half-century in front of the Sky Sports cameras to help steer Spitfires to a NatWest T20 Blast win against Hampshire then followed that with a scintillating unbeaten 106 in Kent’s Royal London One-Day Cup clash with Glamorgan.
Fresh from his 53-ball hundred against the Welsh county – the second 50 of which came off just 17 balls – Billings conceded that he is delighted to have found his form at the right time. And he will be a danger tomorrow (Friday night) in the T20 Blast in Cardiff.
“Perhaps I just needed a bit of luck to kickstart me,” said Kent’s wicketkeeper-batsman.
“It’s a funny game like that, you get a life, play a few shots and get on a roll. It feels like a bit of fun once you get into that sort of flow.
"It’s instinctive really when you play an innings like that. You’re not really thinking, you’re just watching the ball and trying to hit it in the middle of the bat.
“Yes, as a batter, you have your ideas of your favourite scoring areas and, ideally, you want to be able to score 360 degrees of the wicket. But the best bowlers in the world give you no idea of what’s coming up next, whether it be a slower ball, bumper or a yorker.
“The trick for me now is to continue this form and keep putting some scores on the board.”
Keen to add to his 11 England caps, Billings, admits he put too much pressure on himself following a winter spent with the England World Cup squad and playing in the Pakistan Super League as well as for IPL franchise Delhi Daredevils.
“Looking back now, that first week I came back to Kent from the IPL I was a different person,” said the former Haileybury School pupil.
“With ODIs coming up and the potential squads to be announced I was putting so much pressure on myself. I was itching to do well that I forgot to play my own game.
“Top-level athletes in any sport will tell you that putting pressure on yourself is your own biggest enemy. So, in recent matches I’ve gone back to basics, gone back to enjoying the game and that mindset seems to have worked for me.”
As for his aspirations for Kent, Billings added: “Our last few performances in white-ball cricket have been frustrating. We’ve been half-and-half as a side and haven’t put it all together as a collective of batters and bowlers.
“We have plenty of room for improvement and there’s no reason, if we do put it all together more consistently, why we can’t win a competition this summer.”
Billings and his Spitfires’ team-mates lock horns with Glamorgan again when they continue their NatWest T20 Blast campaign at The SSE SWALEC in Cardiff tomorrow night (Friday 6.30pm start). The two counties then clash over four days in Division 2 of the Specsavers County Championship from Sunday.
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