"I just have to make the most out of every opportunity. For me, as a player, my focus is on being in that T20 World Cup squad"
Friday 25 October 2019 08:36, UK
Sam Billings says it is a "huge honour" to have been named Eoin Morgan's vice-captain for England's five-match T20I series in New Zealand.
Morgan's regular deputy Jos Buttler is one of a number of senior players rested, with Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer also given a breather.
Kent skipper Billings is relishing the chance to step up but says his priority is to star with the bat as he looks to secure a place at next year's T20 World Cup in Australia.
"It's great to get some recognition and it's a huge honour," Billings - who has captained England Lions - said ahead of England's opening T20 warm-up match against a New Zealand XI on Sunday.
"It's a great opportunity to be recognised as a developing leader. And there's an element of personal development about it, too.
"Eoin gave me a call a couple of weeks ago and said he'd love me to do it. I suppose he must see something in me. I'm looking forward to learning from him and implementing what I've done at Kent.
"But I'm in the side as a batsman first and foremost and then as a keeper. You have to be able to perform at that top level consistently in those roles first.
"I just have to make the most out of every opportunity. For me, as a player, my focus is on being in that T20 World Cup squad."
Billings' hopes of making England's 50-over World Cup squad last summer were dashed by a dislocated shoulder he suffered while playing for Kent at Glamorgan.
The 28-year-old scored 87 from 47 balls in his previous England outing, in a T20I against West Indies in March, and is looking to "continue that momentum" in New Zealand when the series starts in Christchurch on November 1.
"I've been on the fringes for the last four or five years," added Billings, who scored twin hundreds in Kent's penultimate Specsavers County Championship match of the season, against Yorkshire.
"I've made some performances along the way, but we have such depth in our squad in terms of batsmen and keepers.
"Even though that innings in the West Indies was a long time ago, it's about continuing that momentum in an England shirt.
"For me, it's about enjoying it and it's good to be back playing. The injury has given me some perspective."
England T20 squad: Eoin Morgan (Middlesex) captain, Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Tom Banton (Somerset), Sam Billings (Kent), Pat Brown (Worcestershire), Sam Curran (Surrey), Tom Curran (Surrey), Joe Denly (Kent), Lewis Gregory (Somerset), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Dawid Malan (Middlesex), Matt Parkinson (Lancashire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), James Vince (Hampshire)
Watch England's T20I series in New Zealand, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 12.30am on Friday, November 1.
