For the first time in five years, Kent captain Sam Billings will be in the line up for the opening County Championship fixture next week when Northamptonshire visit Canterbury.

Speaking to KSN at Kent’s recent Press Day, the skipper told us, “I’m very thankful to the opportunities I’ve had to play in the IPL – it truly is an incredible experience.”

“For any cricket fan, let alone player to play in, but Canterbury is always home and coming back to play cricket at the start of the year for me is the best point in my career to do that.”

Having being introduced to the Ashes squad in Australia last year, we asked the Kent Captain if he’d be eager to repeat the experience.

“Eager probably is probably the wrong word in terms of all we can worry about as players is worrying about the first month of the season and the way that we naturally play.”

“If you do well, you put your hat into the ring, but the Test team is so settled and playing fantastic cricket with the depth – certainly in the batting and wicket keeping is always huge.”

“So as a player, but also as a fan, it’s all very exciting before an Ashes series. I would love to be a part of it, but I’m not looking too far ahead!”

“I think personally I’ve gone past frustration if I’m honest. If you have asked me that four years ago, I would have been frustrated but sometimes, as others have been asked, would you like to be in the team right now? Of course I would – as players we’d love to, but in reality it doesn’t work like that.”

“For very few the timing is perfect and you can be pretty much at peace with that. You can get opportunities elsewhere and that’s the great thing as a professional cricketer now, as a player all around the world – you don’t necessarily just “have” to play for England. You can play absolutely everywhere as has been shown by many.”

Looking at Kent’s chances for the season ahead, Billings is optimistic that he can help guide the side to more silverware:

“We’d love another Trophy this summer, absolutely – I think there’s very much a short period of time when you have a window of opportunity when you have a realistic chance of winning, whether it’s the Championship, T20 or the One Day Cup.”

“So to build on that success is an opportunity that we’ve got to grab and we’ve got to start the season well!”

“Historically that’s been a stumbling block for us but as a team, having the consistency, having Zak (Crawley) available from the start of the year in terms of mentality and personality he brings to the group regardless of on the field is huge.”

“So, I think that collectively, with myself being back, and the consistency of the captaincy all the way through, hopefully bodes very well for the summer!”

Billings then fired a guarded warning; “World cricket at the moment, there’s way too much cricket going on and there needs to be a levelling out period where everyone can benefit, but there has to be some sort of time frame and time scale for it to work logistically.”

“Through experience, it’s very important to balance it out and not do too much. With all the opportunities now as a player, you can burn out, do too much and over reach certainly for a younger player!”

“The advice we can give them now as a lot of players have been around the circuit for quite a while now – you have to get that balance and that’s where the competitions, for example English cricket, still has to be a priority and we can benefit going away in the winter and I think that combination really works out nicely with the benefit of being in a place for six months is really appealing for a lot of cricketers now!”

“I’m looking forward to being in the country for six months in a row and having that consistency in your life instead of flying every other day!”