Sam Billings - TheSportsDB.com

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Name
Sam Billings

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60%

Born
1991 (33 years old)

Birth Place

Pembury, England

Position
Batsman

Status
Active

Ethnicity

Team Number
7

Height
178 cm

Outfitter

Kit

Side

Agent

Wage Year

Player Cutout

Full Body Render

Sport

Cricket

Team
Kent

2nd Team
Oval Invincibles

League
English County Championship Division 1

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No

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Samuel William Billings (born 15 June 1991) is an English professional cricketer. Billings is a right-handed batsman who fields as a wicket-keeper. He was born at Pembury in Kent and has played for Kent County Cricket Club sides since he was eight years old, making his senior debut for the First XI in 2011. In October 2017 he was appointed as the vice-captain of the team before being appointed as captain in January 2018, replacing Sam Northeast.

Billings is regarded as a versatile cricketer who studies the game intensely and has an imaginative range of scoring shots. He has appeared mainly in limited overs formats for the England cricket team and made his Test cricket debut in January 2022. He has played Twenty20 franchise cricket in the Pakistan Super League, Indian Premier League and in the Big Bash League in Australia and captained Oval Invincibles in the first two seasons of The Hundred.

Billings was born at Pembury in Kent and grew up on his family's farm in the north of the county. He developed as a good all-round sportsman, playing tennis for Kent and being offered a trial for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club after scoring a hat-trick against the team's academy side whilst playing for Corinthian under-14s. He also played racquets, squash and rugby. His grandfather, Ron Billings, was a racquets champion and his cousin, Tom Billings, has been world champion of the sport. Billings attributes racquets with helping to develop his batting skills, in particular his hand-eye coordination.

Billings attended New Beacon School in Sevenoaks, and then Haileybury College in Hertfordshire, appearing regularly for their cricket XI throughout his school career. He studied for a degree in Sport and Exercise Science at Loughborough University. Billings has said that he was "nowhere near good enough" to become a professional cricketer before his time at university and credits it with encouraging him to work hard to develop his talent.

Billings made his first-class debut for Loughborough MCCU against Northamptonshire in 2011. He made a further first-class appearance for the team in 2011, against Leicestershire. In his four first-class matches for Loughborough MCCU, he scored 321 runs at an average of 45.85, with a high score of 131. This score came in his debut match against Northamptonshire.

Billings was first called into the England Performance Programme in 2014 and took part in a training camp in Sri Lanka during the represented the English winter. He had played for an ECB under-16 side in 2006 and for England age group sides at under-17 and under-18 level before touring Bangladesh with the England under-19 side in 2009.

He was named in the squad for the England Lions cricket team in the 2014/15 off-season in South Africa, making his debut and scoring 53 against a Gauteng Invitation XI in January 2015 and going on to play for the Lions in four of the five unofficial one-day international matches on the tour. In late 2014 he had been named in the provisional squad for the England cricket team before the 2015 Cricket World Cup, replacing the injured Craig Kieswetter, but did not feature in the final squad for the tournament.