I NEED TO BE MORE THAN ENGLAND’S FIREMAN SAM

Billings happy to answer any SOS calls but wants more game time... and less drinks carrying time

SAM BILLINGS has had enough of being England’s go-to emergency service and says he needs to be playing regularly not carrying drinks.

The Kent wicketkeeperbatsman has answered a host of 999 calls put out by both England’s red and white-ball squads during the last five years.

And more often than not throughout a stop-start international career he has been left sitting on the bench when the action starts.

But after busting a gut to answer England’s SOS and make his Test debut (right) in Hobart and then fly halfway around the world to Barbados, Billings says it is time for change.

At 30, he now believes he needs the security and confidence which flows from a central contract in order to progress.

“This is a really interesting time for me as a cricketer,” said Billings.

“I feel like, especially with the form I’ve shown in the Big Bash and in the last couple of years for Kent, I’m playing my best cricket.

“Moving forward I’ve just got to play. I can’t be sat on the bench. I’ve done enough time doing that.

“I feel like I can offer a lot, whether it’s with the red ball or the white ball.”

Billings could be forgiven his low score in Saturday’s series opener here having bolted halfway around the world from Hobart to Barbados on flights and through baffling time zone changes.

He said: “I got a plane from Hobart to Sydney, Sydney to LA, LA to Miami and then

Miami down to here. I’ve tried to work out how long it took about four times.

“The amazing thing was because of the time difference, I took off at 11am on the 18th and I landed in LA at 8am the same day. I’d been on a plane for 15 hours.

“How that works is remarkable but I barely know what day it is.”

Billings has been in the last two World T20 squads, in 2016 and 2021, playing just one game – the losing semi-final against New Zealand last November.

But he wants to be more than a multi-format supersub and is hoping that a decent series here in Barbados elevates him to a more permanent level.

“I have been in and around all the different environments and been a great squad player and done pretty well when I’ve stepped in,” said Billings.

“But that clarity is a huge thing for me, moving forward. From a Test point of view, I really want to give it a real good crack.

“But the problem is I don’t know what’s going on. I’m not centrally contracted, I’ve never been centrally contracted, so it’s very hard to get that clarity as a player for myself.

“Central contracts give that clarity to your schedule – what you can do for the year.

“I’ve never had that but that’s the challenge now.”