Kent Cricket and England wicketkeeper Sam Billings included in long list ahead of IPL auction on February 6
Published: 09:00, 26 January 2016
Updated: 09:07, 26 January 2016
Kent star Sam Billings is one of just three England players included in the long list ahead of next week's Indian Premier League auction.
The 24-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman - currently on England Lions duty in a five-match series against Pakistan A at the ICC Academy in Dubai - joins Jos Buttler and Chris Jordan in the list of 714 players which was revealed on Tuesday morning.
The Pembury ace has been given a base price of £31,000 - which might make him attractive to teams aiming to employ moneyball sabremetrics and seeking value in the auction.
By contrast Buttler's base price is £156,000 while Jordan is valued at £104,000 and former England player Kevin Pietersen is available for a base price of £207,000 to play in the tournament, which runs from April 8 to May 29.
Should Billings be selected in the auction in Balgalore on February 6 he would miss the start of the LV= County Championship season, with Kent's blessing, though under the terms of the 'no objection' contract he would have to return to England for the opening NatWest T20 Blast game against Somerset on May 20.
Billings already faces a busy month ahead having already been drafted by Islamabad United to play in the Pakistan Super League, to be held in Dubai from February 4-23, and then jetting to South Africa to join England's T20 squad at the end of February ahead of the ICC World T20 in Bangladesh the following month.
Kent signed former triallst Adam Rouse as back-up keeper last week, with Billings' involvement expected to be limited in 2016 with England playing plenty of white-ball cricket.
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Alex Hoad