Billings impresses in Sharjah

Kent cricket

Sam Billings hit an unbeaten career-best 78 off 50 balls to inspire Islamabad United to victory against Quetta Gladiators at Sharjah in the Pakistan Super League.

Chasing 149 to win, the 25-year-old Kent Cricket Academy graduate hit eight fours and three sixes, sharing a 63-run stand off 43 balls with Australian all-rounder Shane Watson to steer the reigning champions within sight of the target.

His performance earned him the man-of-the-match and he said: “It helps when guys like Watson come in and smack it like he did.

“The guys in the subcontinent are good with variations but I felt that if I was there until the end we will win.”

He added: “Year on year playing in different leagues around the world is as much a life experience as cricketing experience.” In total, Billings made 133 runs in five appearances in the the UAE at an average of 44.

With two group games left, Islamabad sit third in the five-team table. There are two play-off games to follow before the final.

Billings and his England team-mates were due to arrive in St Kitts and Nevis yesterday (Wednesday) before playing two 50-over warm-up matches against Presidents XIS at Warner Park on Saturday and Monday (both 1.30pm GMT) ahead of the first of three ODIS against the West Indies in Antigua on March 3.

Further ODIS will take place on March 5 in Antigua and March 9 in Barbados.

After his England duties in the Caribbean, Billings will return to the Delhi Daredevils ahead of their IPL campaign which runs from April 3-May 26 which will see him miss the start of Kent’s domestic season.

Former Kent and England batsman Peter Richardson has died at the age of 85. The left-hander joined Kent in 1959 from Worcestershire and played 34 Tests and scored five centuries and nine fifties for England.

Opener Richardson hits half-centuries in each innings of his England debut against Australia at Trent Bridge in 1956 and later in the same series, registered his maiden international hundred (104) at Old Trafford where Jim Laker took world record figures of 19-90.

Richardson was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1957 and played as an amateur before turning professional in 1959 and joining Kent.

During his six seasons at the St Lawrence Ground, Richardson scored 9,975 of his 26,055 First Class runs for Kent in 162 matches with an average of 35.88 in 290 innings.

He scored 52 half-centuries and 18 hundreds, amassing more than 1,000 runs in five successive seasons from 1960 to 1964.

His occasional right-arm off-spin also claimed 11 first class wickets - four of them at Kent – and three in Test cricket.

Former Kent and England swing bowler Richard Ellison is one of five new cricket liaison officers appointed ahead of the new season.

The 57- year- old played for Kent between 1981 and 1993 and since retirement has worked with several Kent cricketers at Millfield School in Somerset including Daniel BellDrummond, Calum Haggett and Charlie Hartley.

Ellison, Tim Boon, Dean Cosker, Wayne Noon and Lloyd Tennant join four former players originally appointed for the 2015 season – including former Kent batsman Graham Cowdrey – plus former international umpire Steve Davis, who joined the panel of CLOS last summer.

The aim is to have one of the panel of 10 CLOS at every match in both divisions of the Specsavers County Championship, and both the North and South Groups of the Natwest T20 Blast and the Royal London One-day Cup.

They will be managed by Andy Smith, a former Surrey all-rounder who re-joins the ECB in a new role as cricket operations manager after eight years working as operations manager and high performance director for Hockey Australia.