Sam Billings called up to 30-man provisional England World Cup squad

Thursday 11th December 2014

Men’s First Team

Sam Billings called up to 30-man provisional England World Cup squad

Kent wicketkeeper Sam Billingshas been added to the 30-man England World Cup squad to face Sri Lanka.

The 23-year-old Kent Cricket Academy graduate will join James Tredwell in the initial selection which will be reduced to 15 for the tournament in Australia and New Zealand in February and March 2015.

Billings replaces Somerset gloveman Craig Kieswetter who is taking an extended break to recover from an eye injury.

The Spitfire Kent Cricket Player of the Year for 2014 will have a chance to stake his claim on the England Lions tour in South Africa next month, which will also feature Kent spinner Adam Riley.

Kent captain Rob Key said: "He's obviously a very good player, and last year was a breakout year for him.

"He was understudy to Geraint Jones for a long time. He used to open the batting in one-day cricket, and we put him down to six or seven.
"In the 50-over Royal London Cup in his first real innings he came in in the 34th over and got 150 in about 80 balls. It's probably one of the best innings I've seen live.
"He's a real new breed of cricketer – he was hitting balls right-handed and then turning round to people like Alfonso Thomas and pulling them left-handed for six. A real talent – you get excited about how far he can go.
"He was a real finisher for us at six or seven, where you can come in needing six an over to win or 15 an over to win. He's got both of those qualities and he will add to that England team."

England's 30-man provisional squad for Cricket World Cup 2015:Alastair Cook (Essex, captain), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Jonathan Bairstow (Yorkshire), Gary Ballance (Yorkshire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Sam Billings (Kent), Ravi Bopara (Essex), Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Jack Brooks (Yorkshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Harry Gurney (Nottinghamshire), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Stephen Parry (Lancashire), Samit Patel (Nottinghamshire), Liam Plunkett (Yorkshire), Boyd Rankin (Warwickshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Ben Stokes (Durham), James Taylor (Nottinghamshire), James Tredwell (Kent), James Vince (Hampshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Luke Wright (Sussex).