Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Desperate to repay captain’s faith
BILLINGS WANTS SOME BIG PERFORMANCES TO PROVE HIS WORTH
Billings replaced Geraint Jones, 37, for the final two LV= County Championship Division 2 games of last season, ending the former England gloveman’s run of 115 straight four-day appearances for Kent, and was installed as first-choice for the opening game of this season at Worcester.
The 22-year-old said: “Obviously it’s encouraging for me personally and exactly what I wanted after all the hard work I put in over the winter.
“I’m really happy and now basically Kent wicketkeeper Sam Billings says captain Rob Key has promised him an extended stay behind the stumps and he is desperate to reward his faith with some
big performances, I’ve got to put some performances in. I’ll take it a step at a time.”
Jones signalled his intent to regain his place with a century for the 2nd XI side he captained in a friendly draw against Warwickshire last week.
Billings said: “Of course people want my place but all competition is healthy whether it’s above you or below you. Without it you stop progressing as a player and as a person.
“(What other people do) doesn’t bother me or faze me either way. I just want to keep improving and putting performances in. All competition is good competition.
“All I’ve got to do is put the performances in, focus on what I’ve got to do and do the best I can for the team.”
He revealed: “The club have just said, ‘go out and play your natural way and enjoy it.’ Bob (Key) has been brilliant and said ‘you’re going to have a fair run at it – you’ve got to have a proper go at it.
“You can’t say to someone ‘you’ve got three games and then...’ – it’s unrealistic, it puts people in a bad frame of mind and that kind of pressure is not good.”
Billings admitted to nerves before the first ball at New Road, but has faith that people already trust his batting.
He said: “The first game I was more nervous keeping that batting. Everyone’s seen me bat, I’ve shown I can do it properly, but nobody’s really seen me keep that much, so there is some pressure.
“I know I’m a good keeper, but it’s more or less going and showing everyone else and proving it to your peers.
“Everyone’s backing me of course, but when you come into a new position you want to show everyone you’re capable of doing it. I know I can, so hopefully I can go out and do it.
“I kept well at Worcester, I was really happy with it.
“I’ll take that from there, try to get that consistency day in-day out and just be the best cricketer I can be.” Fall: 1-0, 2-27, 3-27, 4-57, 5-84, 6-94, 7-101, 8-106, 9-131, 10-140. Bowling: GM Andrew 13-5-43-3; CAJ Morris 13-3-31-3; JD Shantry 15-526-3; MM Ali 8-2-36-0; SH Choudhry 2-0-3-0. Points: Worcestershire 20, Kent 4 Umpires: SC Gale and IJ Gould Worcestershire won by 125 runs LV = County Championship Division 2: Sunday, May 4: LV = County Championship Division 2: Sunday, May 11: Tour Match One-day Friendly: Friday, May 16: Kent v Sri Lanka (at LV = County Championship Division 2: Sunday, May 18: Natwest T20 Blast: Friday, May 23: Somerset v Kent (at Taunton). LV = County Championship Division 2: Sunday, May 25: Kent v Worcestershire (at Tunbridge Wells). Natwest T20 Blast: Friday, May 30: Kent v Gloucestershire (at Canterbury).