Sam Billings on his first full season

Kent wicketkeeper-batsman SAM BILLINGS has grown in confidence as this summer has progressed. In his first full season behind the stumps, Billings has already claimed 44 LV= County Championship victims and scored a hundred and four fifties in five Royal London One-Day Cup knocks.

I would have liked to have performed better in the T20…

I scored a few 20s and 30s but, through that experience, and then my batting in the Royal London One-Day Cup, I have since learnt a lot in terms of my scoring options in one-day cricket. I’ve also learned that, even in short-form games, it pays to take your time at the start. In Twenty20 I tried to smack it from ball one and, in the main, that didn’t work. Since then, I’ve made sure I’ve played out a few balls to get my eye in.

I scored at least 50 in my first five knocks in the 50-over cup competition…

In many ways it couldn’t really have gone much better batting-wise. I should have maybe converted my 87 at The Oval in the tie against Surrey into a hundred but, other than that, I couldn’t pick out too many faults.

I’ve no doubt that the innings at Taunton [135* from 58 balls] was the best I’ve ever batted.

It’s a little weird to say this maybe, but I honestly can’t actually remember too much about it! I was just so into the zone and flowing. Whatever came into my head that day just worked.

What I do know is all but two of my shots came out of the middle of the bat and I’m tremendously proud to have played that way against what is a very good Somerset attack. That day everything I attempted worked out. Let’s face it, there won’t be too many days when you successfully switch hit Alfonso Thomas for six!

I’ve backed myself to sweep the quick bowlers…

It isn’t as pre-meditated a shot as you might think. With the fields in 50-over cricket you more or less know what the bowler is trying to achieve and where he’s trying to bowl it.

If they have fine leg up they aren’t likely to be going for bouncers, more like good length or block-hole and, the reality is, a good-length ball from a pace bowler is the ideal delivery to sweep. If they go yorker instead, that’s even more in my slot.

It’s a shot I’ve worked hard on in the nets with Matt Walker’s throw-downs and against the bowling machine, and I back myself to succeed with it out in the middle now.

I developed the shot to combat the nagging length of people like David Masters, who is nigh on impossible to pull. Not surprisingly, the shot winds the bowlers up a little too. Stuart Meaker of Surrey had a few words with me after I played it against him.

The most pleasing thing this season has been the development of my wicketkeeping…

I guess people already knew I could bat after that 143 against Derbyshire in 2012, but not many people had seen me keep wicket much.

There were still question marks over that aspect of my game but I’ve adjusted to the pace of the game now. It has helped tremendously to keep to the extra pace of someone like Doug Bollinger.

When you go back to the other guys after Doug, there seems to be just that little bit more time to adjust. I’ve learned a lot about keeping my body in shape as well, and the importance of things like massage and ice baths in assisting with recovery.

That said, there have still been days when I didn’t want to move out of bed!

It’s great to feel that my game is progressing… and I’m hopeful that I can continue that learning curve. I don’t know if many people knew, but I did get called up to the England Lions squad that took on Sri Lanka A and New Zealand A in Worcester.

I was picked as cover, but was gutted when I didn’t get my chance, particularly on the Tuesday when I was so close to playing. I was brought in as cover for Jason Roy but, when David Willey went down in the warm-up, I thought I’d definitely be in. But fair play to David, he had a fitness test a little later and passed fit. It was still a great experience to be around that environment, though, and to get the chance to train and learn from the likes of Andy Flower and Graham Thorpe. It’s really encouraging to know I’m in their thoughts.