Sam Billings knows exactly when he was last at home, though the memory is increasingly distant. It was 20 September 2021, two days after he captained Kent to victory in the Vitality Blast. “After that I went Indian Premier League, World Cup, holiday in the Maldives for a week where I got engaged to my other half, Sarah – I haven’t seen her since – and then Big Bash, then Test match, then here.”
These have been four whirlwind months, culminating most recently in a nine-hour, 820km drive from his BBL assignment on Australia’s Gold Coast to join England’s Ashes squad in Tasmania for his Test debut, followed a few days later by a marathon journey to join the Twenty20 side in Barbados via stop-offs in Sydney, Los Angeles and Miami. “I’ve tried to work out how long the journey took about four times,” he says. “The amazing thing was I took off at 11am on the 18th and I landed in LA at 8am the same day. I’d been on a plane for 15 hours. I don’t know what day it is. It’s just great to be here.”
