Kent wicketkeeper Sam Billings says foot fracture won't derail plan to earn first-team place
Exclusive by Alex Hoad
Sam Billings says he won’t allow a
fractured foot to derail his plan to earn a first-team place at
Kent this season.
The 21-year-old wicketkeeper is
spending the winter on an ECB scholarship at the Darren Lehman
Academy in Adelaide but the rigours of the daily training regime
saw him suffer a stress fracture in a joint in his right foot last
month.
Billings said: "I went for a run a
couple of weeks ago and felt it getting progressively worse and
about 1.5miles in, I felt it go. I couldn’t even walk back.
"I had three or four scans and it was
originally thought to be a double stress fracture but it turned out
to be a small fracture in a joint in my foot.
"It was basically over-training,
day-in day-out. It’s been a long haul over here, full-on.
"This break might have come at a good
time because I’ll be fresh and ready to go back at Kent on March
4."
Billings said Kent coach Jimmy Adams
and captain James Tredwell had been keeping in contact via the
internet and added: "They’ve both been good. Things tend to get
taken care of when we get back for pre-season so I’m sure we’ll
find out where we stand then.
"I got an opportunity in one-day
cricket last season and did relatively well. It’s a good target for
me this season to be a top scorer in both forms of one-day cricket
and start well in the 2nd XI for four-day cricket and try and make
some big scores."
Do you think Billings will
feature for the Kent first-team this year? Have your say
below.
06/02/13
- Click here for more Canterbury news...
- Click here for more news from across the county...