Kent wicket-keeper Sam Billings is confident that competition in the squad will push the team forward this season.

22-year-old Billings has been selected ahead of the more experienced Geraint Jones for Kent’s first LV= County Championship match of 2014 at Worcestershire, and the Pembury-born keeper is confident that competition in the Kent squad is just what is required to help the team to improve.

“Competition is what you need – as soon as you stop pushing yourself, and pushing each other, you’re going to plateau and stay in the same place”, Billings told KSN.

“We want to keep it moving and keep getting better. Doug [Bollinger] is obviously a brilliant signing. I was in Sydney [over the winter] and watched him bowl a couple of times for his state side and he’s obviously a high quality bowler.

“Just having a guy like that in the ranks is important, and we’ve got a lot of experience mixed in with youth. The competition will lead to performances, definitely, and it’s brilliant, because it just adds to the vibe of the whole place.”

Despite having become a regular feature in limited-overs cricket for Kent in recent years, this game against Worcestershire is only his 10^th First Class appearance of his career. Billings admits that although he is an aggressive player, it is important for him to be able to switch gears between the different formats of the game.

“There is a completely different mindset between the different forms, and I’ve worked hard on it”, Billings said.

“I had a long chat with Rob Key on the phone while I was in Oz about it, and I think the main thing I’ve been working on and believing in is working out the way you want to play, the way you are capable of playing – there is a mixture – and stick to that and just work on getting better and better and that.

“I’m always going to be a positive player. Growing up I watched Adam Gilchrist – he’s a freak, but he came in at seven and scored hundreds at a-run-a-ball or less. That’s the kind of player I want to be.

“I’m going to play positively, but I can stick it out as well. I scored a hundred on my First Class debut against Northants and I think that was at a strike rate of about 45 or 50 – I plodded it! It’s just a case of working it out and getting that consistency, which is the main thing.”

Top picture supplied by www.sarahansellphotography.com.