According to the England team management, Sam Billings had “90 minutes” to catch a flight back to England before he was called up to the Ashes squad, as he drove nine hours from Brisbane to Sydney to provide wicketkeeping cover ahead of the fifth Test next week.
Billings, who just wrapped up a Big Bash stint with Sydney Thunder, was scheduled to return to England for England’s T20I tour of the Caribbean later this month. After Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow were sent for X-rays following hand injuries sustained in the fourth Test, Billings has now joined the touring party in Sydney, where he will undergo an isolation period in the team hotel, subject to a negative Covid test.
In a post on Twitter, Billings wrote that “Australia is a really big place!” as he rested near Newcastle in New South Wales in between his journeys.
He has yet to play a Test, but he has previously spoken about his desire to play red-ball cricket. With six centuries, he averages 34.29 in first-class cricket with 58 limited-overs games for England.
Despite his stand-in performance on day four, Ollie Pope equalled the dismissals record for a substitute with four catches behind the stumps. He is now likely to become England’s 700th Test cricketer at Hobart next week.
Ben Stokes sustained a side strain while bowling on the second afternoon, worsening England’s problems. Although he returned to the field on Saturday, he has not bowled since he underwent a scan. Later, the ECB said that it would evaluate the extent of the injury and provide an update after the Test match.
Thorpe said, “It’s possible.”. He added, “Obviously Stokes’ injury is not a great one, being an allrounder. So we’ll have to see what we can do after the game.”.
He also added that Sometimes, the adrenaline that runs through your body during the game can actually assist you. And there are other times when you have to take your injury into account going into a game.
At the end of the statement he said,”Obviously, Sam Billings has been called into the group, as you’re aware, so that’s a good indicator of some of the concerns with the injuries.”
