Sam Billings on England captaincy: 'I only get called when they're desperate!'

Sam Billings doesn't exactly roll his eyes at the question, but knows it is coming, and he delivers his answer with a grin.

"It's funny how everyone just picks out a specific quote and then, once you've read the context, you're like, actually, he's been pretty balanced and measured there, but the quote obviously sticks out. It gets you to read the piece."

Billings might as well be describing the subtle art of headline-writing (and bracing for the one above, no doubt!), but in fact he's clarifying his comments, as reported in the wake of Wednesday's Hundred draft, that he'd "jump" at the chance to be England's next white-ball captain. The nuance, he explains, is a little bit more subtle than that.

At the age of 33, Billings is technically entering the autumn of his career - although, as he points out, Faf du Plessis is still at the top of his game aged 40. And besides, "you can take five years off that, because I did five years running the drinks … so I'm actually a 28-year-old!"

However you carbon-date him, Billings' time with England was not without its highlights (in between those long bouts of bench-warming) but he is having the time of his life right now, precisely because he has long since stopped worrying about chasing the dream.

In February 2023, Billings opted out of a white-ball tour of Bangladesh to fulfil his contract with Lahore Qalandars, and though the ECB insisted he and his fellow refuseniks would not be punished for their choices, he's never been in the mix since. Seeing as he had been averaging 47.88 with a strike rate of 91.12 in ODIs since the 2019 World Cup, you could argue he'd have been a handy option at either or both of those last two ICC events.

Instead, he's channelled that form and focus into the lucrative world of franchise cricket. Billings is a two-time winning captain of The Hundred with Oval Invincibles, led Dubai Capitals to the ILT20 title last month, while his three-year deal with Sydney Thunder hit instant pay-dirt in the BBL in January, as he helped haul last year's wooden-spoonists up to the play-offs, with promise of better times yet to come.

"I made that decision a couple of years ago, and all the cricket I have played since then has been incredibly enjoyable," Billings says. "Like anything in life, if you keep chasing something and putting all your eggs in that basket, it actually eludes you even more.

"I'm content, I'm winning things, and I'm playing good cricket. You wouldn't turn down an opportunity, but you've got to have clarity and control, and stand up for yourself a little bit. Every decision you make in life, there's a cost to it, and I'm very aware of the cost of the decision a couple of years ago. But that's fine. I'm 33. I'm here to win games of cricket and play consistently and perform."

Billings is a two-times winning captain in the Men's Hundred with Oval Invincibles • PA Photos/Getty Images

Recent fatherhood has been a factor in Billings' contentment, too. "Obviously, life has changed a little bit for me the last couple of years, having a little one," he says. "It just gives you that perspective and real clarity about what cricket you want to play, and what you want to achieve yourself, as opposed to what other people want for your career. Ultimately, as a professional sportsman, just you want to win."

As he acknowledges, the fact he has been winning so much in recent years is one key reason why his name is even remotely in the frame for the England captaincy. However, he can't help but recognise the absurdity of the situation too.

"It's funny in all these conversations, when Rooty [Joe Root] gave up the [Test] captaincy, my name was there," he says, before recalling the crazy circumstances around his Test debut in 2022, when he drove for 12 hours down the Gold Coast from Brisbane to Sydney to bail England out of a wicketkeeping crisis ahead of the fifth Test in Hobart. "Like all of these things, I only get called when they're desperate!

"On a serious note, it's obviously flattering, and I'd love to have the opportunity [to play for England] again. But there's a reason why your name gets mentioned, if I'm honest. My track record over the last few years, every team I go into, it gets better. I'm not saying that's all down to me, but I like to be a part of that influence, and shape things. And that's probably narrowed people's focus, because international cricket is about winning games of cricket."

One area where that hasn't been quite such a given for Billings has been on the home front with Kent, for whom he remains T20 skipper after handing over the club captaincy to Daniel Bell-Drummond last year. He did guide the side to glory in the T20 Blast in 2021, but last year's campaign was a rough one, even though Billings' personal haul of 411 runs at 31.61 included a maiden Blast hundred, from just 54 balls, against Somerset in June. That was one of just four wins in 14 games, as Kent finished rock-bottom in the South Group.

Sam Billings and his opposite number Lockie Ferguson pose with the trophy on the eve of last month's ILT20 final • ILT20

"I would love Kent to be right at the very top, but how we do that, how we how we get there, it's obviously going to be a long journey," he says, although the coming season promises to be a fascinating season nonetheless - and not simply because of the stature of their incoming head coach, Adam Hollioake, a man whose aura was on full display during his unveiling at their pre-season media day on Friday.

"A 10 minute chat with him, not even about cricket, and you understand the journey that he's been on," Billings says. "He's had various challenges that he's had to move through and, as a man, I'm just looking forward to soaking it all up and learning from him. He's obviously a tough guy externally, but internally as well. And that's what we need. He'll have an incredible impact on our group."

Few clubs epitomise the history of county cricket to quite such an extent as Kent, while at the same time having such an ostensibly small stake in the game's future direction. And given his dual allegiance to the big beasts of Surrey through his exploits with Oval Invincibles, few players are better placed than Billings to gauge the delicate balance between English cricket's haves and have-nots, in the wake of The Hundred equity sale.

"That's the key word, balance," he says. "The amount of money that has the potential to come into the game is incredible, but with any investment, it's about how you use that progressively and smartly.

"Only Yorkshire has more cricket clubs in their own county than Kent," Billings adds. "So how can we utilise that really strong cricketing culture, to make it sustainable, both from a county system point of view, so we can keep on producing players, but also from a business point of view for the future and ongoing generation?

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