Kent Spitfires captain Sam Billings insists he’ll keep taking the game on despite his run of low scores.
Billings is the standout player in Kent’s Vitality Blast squad but he’s been unable to match last season’s numbers in their opening run of games.
It’s a relatively small sample size and Billings will no doubt come good during the 14 group matches. He’s too good a player not to.
Going into tonight’s fixture at home to Gloucestershire, Billings has a top score of 15 not out to his name in five innings.
“It’s such a volatile sport,” said Billings. “It’s high risk. I’m always urging the guys to take the game on and be brave.
“You might have a game or two here and there or back-to-back that might not go to plan, but I’d rather people keep going at the game, keep taking the game on, as opposed to the opposite.
“It’s a long season and one of our best players hasn’t yet fired, and I’m looking to put that right. If I do that, then I know I can win games on my own.
“That’s simply what I’m focused on, 14 games is a long time and hopefully I can start peaking towards the business end.
“Every team I go into, sometimes I’ve got to bat higher, sometimes I’ve got to bat lower, and that versatility is tough. But I’ll keep taking the game on.
“I’ve been in good form, I’m hitting the ball well and the runs are just around the corner.”
It’s been a tough return in terms of runs for Billings.
He moved himself up to three in the order at Somerset on Sunday, on the back of a big opening partnership, but picked out deep cover from a low full toss to depart for just six.
After hitting a 19-ball half-century in the Pakistan Super League and named in the Big Bash team of the year after being the seventh-highest run scorer in this year’s edition, it appears to be only a matter of time before Billings gets going again.
“I’ve hardly faced any balls,” reflected Billings. “I’ve tried dropping down a slot this year.
“I think I scored over 400 runs last year, played really nice. We’re trying to balance the side out, so Harry Finch has done really well in the second team and we’ve tried to give him that role that’s very similar at the top.
“It’s one of those things that I just haven’t faced too many balls, and certainly when you come in towards the back end of an innings when you’re trying to up the run rate, that’s the nature of that role.
“I know that if I give myself 10 balls and get going, then the results speak for itself.
“I’ve played really nice in Pakistan and Australia, and it’s just a few games here and there. It’s around the corner – I’m hitting the ball well, I know that.”
Spitfires have won three out of five completed games with Australian duo Wes Agar and Tom Rogers both making telling contributions so far.
Billings knows how to get the best out of them and they fit perfectly into the captain’s ethos.
“I think it definitely does help that they know I trust them implicitly to back themselves,” said Billings.
“I’m always telling them, especially those two, to really be aggressive, to try and take wickets. That’s the best way of stemming the run rate in this format of the game.
“Their whole ethos or their whole viewpoint is to really run in hard and try and take early wickets.
“That makes everyone else better around them, so hopefully they can do the same.
“With overseas players, or any player for that matter, performances come and go, but it’s about how you get the best out of your team-mate next to you and what you give to the team, even on off-days.
“That’s always been a personal thing for me, that even if I’m not scoring runs or performing that well, how am I going to make the team better and the people around me better? They’re no different to that.”
Kent finish the current block of T20 fixtures with a trip to Chelmsford to face Essex on Friday night. They resume their County Championship campaign against Lancashire at Blackpool from Sunday.
