Sam Billings will go straight into Twenty20 series against West Indies

Sam Billings will go straight into Twenty20 series against West Indies after surprise Test debut… but only because England’s Ashes collapse allowed him to catch flight in time

  • Sam Billings is set to feature for England against the West Indies in Barbados
  • The Kent batsman, 30, only finished his quarantine period on Friday morning
  • He became England’s 700th Test cricketer when he made his debut last week 

Sam Billings will be pitched straight into the Twenty20 series against West Indies fresh from becoming England’s 700th Test cricketer.

Ironically, it was only the rapid decline of the tourists in the final innings of his debut in Hobart that has allowed the 30-year-old to rack up the air miles and play two internationals on two different continents six days apart.

‘If the Test match had have gone into the fourth day, he wouldn’t have had a flight for three days and he would have been ruled out the weekend,’ explained England white-ball captain Eoin Morgan.

Sam Billings became England’s 700th Test cricketer when he made a surprise debut last week

The man who led Kent to Vitality Blast glory last season only came out of quarantine on Friday morning, having arrived in Barbados on Tuesday night, and will offer some experience to a side missing its established multi-format players plus Liam Livingstone, ruled out through a non-Covid related illness.

In fact, Billings is one of only five men that played in November’s semi-final defeat to New Zealand in Abu Dhabi expected to begin the ludicrously short nine-month cycle to the next World Cup.

Morgan’s team were yesterday confirmed in the same group as current champions Australia and the New Zealanders for October’s event down under, with only the top two progressing to the semi-finals. 

Billings, 30, arrived in Barbados on Tuesday for the Twenty20 series against West Indies

In normal circumstances, these five matches would represent the chance to build towards that tournament but the saturated global schedule has contributed to a raft of uncapped players in the 17-man squad.

‘I think this tour is one where the development of our game is actually more important than the series win,’ Morgan said.

One pleasing sight for English eyes at the Kensington Oval yesterday was that of Jofra Archer bowling, albeit at the gentlest of paces, in the nets. He is with the team to rehab following a second elbow surgery last month.




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