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Bold, brash and unashamedly modern, Kent keeper-batsman Sam Billings embodies the new way for English cricketers. He speaks about his determination to make an England ODI spot his own, the IPL experience and where cricket goes next. Why limit what you can do? he says.Its four years since Billings announced himself by scoring a run-a-ball half-century in a televised one-day match for Kent against Warwickshire. His dexterity and range of strokes led Michael Atherton to tip him as an international player in the making, the former England skipper even suggesting the selectors should chance their arm and pick him immediately. While his Kent teammates Sam Northeast and Daniel Bell-Drummond had been identified as prodigious talents at an early age, Billings had seemingly come from nowhere.Im a late developer, Billings tells AOC as we sit in the sunshine outside the Lime Tree Café at the pretty St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury. Rob Key said to me the other day when we were playing golf: You were rubbish as a kid! Everyone knew about DBD [Bell-Drummond], everyone knew about Sam Northeast, and I was just this wiry little kid who turned up to practice and asked for a hit at the end of the day. He tells the story of when I went to Antigua on pre-season with the first-team squad. We had a practice game, Charlie Shreck was bowling bumpers at me and I smacked a fifty and all of a sudden Keysy said he realised there was something to work with.Billings had to bide his time though, and when no offer of a professional contract was forthcoming, he decided his best chance was through the MCC University system at Loughborough. He describes it as the best thing hes ever done.Growing up I was definitely a keeper first and a batter second. Id kept for England all the way through the age groups - Jos [Buttler] played as a batter - but I wasnt good enough to get a full county contract when I finished school. During my first year at Loughborough we had a camp for the England under 19s. All the boys were staying in the ECB lodges and I just stayed in my halls. I was one of only a few that didnt have a contract and I felt a bit on the periphery. It was only at Loughborough that I got an opportunity at the top of the order. My [first-class] debut was against Northants at Loughborough and I got a hundred, so Kent then knew I was good enough to play at this level.A year later Billings was established in Kents limited-overs teams and he followed that eye-catching performance in front of the Sky cameras by smashing 143 from 113 deliveries against Derbyshire - the highest one-day score by a Kent batsman at Canterbury. In the time since he has developed a reputation as one of the cleanest and most innovative ball-strikers in the English game and he made his ODI and T20I debuts in 2015. He also took part in the inaugural Pakistan Super League earlier this year, turning out for tournament winners Islamabad United, before representing Delhi Daredevils at the IPL.I just saw it as a huge opportunity, he says of his decision to put himself forward for the IPL auction. Andrew Strauss has encouraged as many of us as possible to go and play in franchise tournaments around the world. He sees it as an opportunity to improve as individuals and in the long run thats going to benefit English cricket as well. Even when youre not playing you learn just as much as when you are. Youve just got to soak it all up because it is a different world out there.I was actually na?ve going into it because I thought it was just cricket, there was training and you got plenty of time in between games. But there was something on every day! If youre not training youre doing photoshoots, youre singing in adverts, youre doing all sorts for the sponsors. I was quite lucky actually. They wanted the big guys faces on adverts and we had Brathwaite, Morris, Zaheer Khan, JP Duminy, Quinton de Kock. They didnt have a clue who I was! They thought I was the physio.Billings had made his peace with the fact that in such a star-studded roster he might not get a game but midway through the tournament he got his opportunity against Kolkata Knight Riders. I was so nervous! The boys were taking the mickey out of me in the team meeting. Im sitting next to the big man, Carlos Brathwaite, and when my names read out all the lads started clapping, and then Carlos looked at me and burst out laughing. I had these massive sweat patches, just from the nerves. I was wearing a grey t-shirt - not a good option! He found it hilarious. It was only because you care so much and youre wanting to show the world what you can do. I think thats how youve got to look at it: its a great opportunity as opposed to shying away from it.The nerves didnt show as Billings scored 54 from 34 balls in a Delhi victory. He followed that with a quick-fire 24 in his next innings and finished the campaign with five matches under his belt. Hopefully if I get retained next year people now know what I can do. Theres not much more I could have done. It was a sensational, surreal experience. It was as much a life experience as a cricketing experience.So should we be trying to replicate that experience in England with our own city-based franchise model? Franchise cricket was fantastic but its a different beast over here, says Billings. Youve got the county system, which is so entrenched. The main thing from a players point of view is that we have to play T20 in a block. Weve had two spells this season where weve played six days out of eight in three different formats. Thats not good for us as players: trying to survive in red-ball cricket and then having to try and whack it out of the park on a Friday evening. As players we dont know whats going on. We just load our cars up and have all the kit there in case its T20 or whatever! But also as a fan, its so hard to track a competition or team, or how a particular players going.Billings isnt afraid to speak his mind on a number of subjects and admits he was bitterly disappointed to miss out on Englands ODI squad for the recent series against Sri Lanka. He was selected for the one-off T20I but feels ready for a run in the 50-over team and the stats bear that out.To be totally honest I was disappointed not to be in the ODI squad, he says. After James Taylor was unfortunately forced to retire due to his health issues and then Ben Stokes was out injured I thought I might get a go in that middle order. But I think its a great strength of English cricket at the moment that weve got so many decent players and Ive just got to keep scoring runs. Ive topped the averages in List A cricket for the last two years, at a strike-rate of 140, average of 86 - as long as I keep doing that then hopefully that spot becomes my own.List A cricket is definitely my strongest format, simply because Ive played so much of it from a young age. Where I bat in T20, its so volatile as well. Its the strike-rate thats the key thing as opposed to the average. For England I just hope that I get a good stint at it. In that Pakistan series [last November] I got a fifty off 23 balls, the quickest fifty from an Englishman in an international T20. If I get a good run at it, Im sure that given a bit of time I can really go on and produce. J-Roy [Jason Roy] has had a good run at it and now hes starting to show how good he is. And Im so happy for him because he is that good. Youre not going to whack it out of the park every day straight away but given time I think you can definitely bed in, for sure.****Its a sign of the times that 40 minutes into our interview, were yet to discuss Billings red-ball cricket. Hes only played 40 first-class matches in his career so far and, remarkably, just two in the last 11 months. Hes batted once in that time.Young cricketers coming through in this country still generally proclaim Test cricket to be the pinnacle, almost as a reflex. But in the case of a player such as Billings, whose career thus far has been so focused on, and defined by, white-ball cricket, can that really still hold true?Theres something special about a Lords Test match. That is the purest form of cricket. But I think were very lucky to have a sport which has three formats that are so different. Theres not one thats more important than the other. Thats quite important I think. If you see it from my perspective, dont get me wrong I would love to play a Test match - putting on that blue Three Lions cap and walking out for a Test match would just be unbelievable - but its just different. I feel so far away from Test cricket because I just havent played enough four-day cricket in the last year. Its frustrating because I would love to play it, but its just finding a balance. Red ball and white ball cricket are two different games nowadays and people have got to realise that. Its just the way it is.Billings talks with real passion about the games future and given the opportunities available to him, its easy to see why. I think the games moving forward quicker than it ever has done, he says. The face of cricket is changing all around the world with different competitions popping up everywhere. Weve just got to keep growing the game.I think that ODI series against New Zealand [last summer] was actually one of the best, not only for the England team but for the whole cricket world because it had two teams just going out there without a care in the world. In the deciding ODI, Morgs [Eoin Morgan] came in against the left-arm spinner and tried to take him down. Thats the way you have to play nowadays, because 300s not good enough. Its that mindset of taking it on, whether its first ball or last ball: have no regrets and go with the flow. See 400 as a realistic option. It sounds ridiculous, but it is. The last 20 overs, you can get 200. Why not? And then youve 30 overs before that. I reckon we will see 500 one day. I should have brought one of my bats down. It is ridiculous. Its actually absurd. They are unbelievable but the game moves forward. Its going to push the standard higher. Batsmen are now paddle-sweeping fast bowlers. Why limit what you can do? Weve got one of the best bowlers in the world here [at Kent] in [Kagiso] Rabada, who for a 21-year-old is just phenomenal with the skills hes got. Hes come up with ways to combat a batsman. You have to. It will have that knock-on effect where the bowlers will catch up again.Gareth Andrew [the Hampshire allrounder] has a brilliant thing where he has the ball in his left hand while running up to bowl and as hes getting into his delivery stride he chucks the ball up with his left hand and catches it with his right. As a batter youre like: Whats he done? Why limit that? Thats great for the game. Gone are the days where you set a field and everyone knows where youre going to bowl. If youve got the field set for a yorker youre going to double bluff and hit the bloke on the head. If he top-edges it for four or six over third-man, then thats the game. Batsmen gamble, and bowlers have got to gamble as well now.****Billings immediate focus is on winning back a place in Englands ODI squad for the forthcoming series against Pakistan and cementing his spot in the T20 side. Hes going the right way about it. Given the plum role of No.4 for the England Lions one-day tri-series, he followed up a 34-ball 68 in a victory over Sri Lanka A with a career-best 175 against Pakistan A - 139 balls, 21 fours, four sixes (one of those a pull over mid-wicket from a left-handed stance). It was a role that Billings had discussed with England Lions batting coach Graham Thorpe during the winter tour of South Africa. Thorpey said they wanted me to bat four because if you have that adaptability where you can bat anywhere in the top six or seven, then as a coach or selector it gives you so much more, especially if you can hopefully be one of the better fielders and offer an option with the gloves as well. Im trying to offer as much as I can to the team in different situations.Its an offer that Englands 50-over team can surely not turn down for much longer. After years of inertia, England have finally woken up to whats possible in white-ball cricket. Billings has the skill and tenacity to help them achieve it.This article first appeared in All Out Cricket magazine.Acheter Adidas Superstar Pas Cher .Y. - Detroit goaltender Jonas Gustavsson has earned NHL first star of the week honours after winning in his first three appearances of the season. Adidas Superstar Pas Cher ., for the next three years with the signings on Monday of Daryl Townsend and Michael Carter. http://www.pascheradidassuperstar.fr/ .ca NBA Power Rankings, ahead of the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs. Adidas Superstar En Soldes . Reassurance came from Paul Tesori, his caddie and close friend whose newborn son is in intensive care in a Florida hospital. "Paul sent me a text this morning, just told me he loved me and wanted to go out and fight as hard as I would any other day," Simpson said Sunday after doing just that. Adidas Superstar Edition Limitée . -- Peyton Manning will have all of his wide receivers available for the first time in a month when the Denver Broncos begin their playoff run Jan.Mercedes third straight constructors championship has not looked in doubt for much of 2016. By wrapping it up at the Japanese Grand Prix, the team entered an elite pantheon of former F1 dynasties -- becoming only the fifth team to have won three titles in a row.ESPN looks at the elite company the world champions joined at Suzuka and how each of them came to rule the sport in their respective time periods.Ferrari (1975, 1976, 1977)Ferraris first spell of total dominance of the sport came after ten years without a drivers or constructors championship. The promotion of Mauro Forghieri to technical director sparked a revival, as did the signing of a young Austrian named Niki Lauda and the appointment of Luca di Montezemolo as team principal in 1974. Forghieris Ferrari 312T was piloted to five wins by Lauda as Ferrari claimed both titles in 1975 and the Austrian was comfortably leading the championship the following year until his infamous crash at the German Grand Prix.Though James Hunt won the 1976 drivers title, Lauda and Clay Regazzonis six victories helped win a second straight constructors championship. Lauda reclaimed the title in 1977 as Ferrari became the first team to win the championship three times in a row. Laudas retirement the following year did not diminish Ferraris form, as Carlos Reutemann and Gilles Villeneuve took the team to second in the championship. It then took a clean sweep in 1979, with South African Jody Scheckter winning the drivers championship -- the teams last until 2000. Despite two more constructors championships in 1982 and 1983, the 1980s saw Ferrari fall from its previous heights.McLaren (1988, 1989, 1990, 1991)McLarens 1980s resurgence had started with back-to-back constructors championships in 1984 and 1985, with one drivers championship apiece for Lauda and Alain Prost respectively. Despite another Prost championship in 1986, the team lost the next two constructors championships to Williams. The team made two crucial acquisitions at the end of the disappointing 1987 season: Honda engines, and the services of Ayrton Senna from Lotus.McLarens 1988 package might have been as close to motor racing perfection as you can get: Prost, Senna and the legendary MP4/4, which would claim all but one win and one pole position in the season. The MP4/4, designed by Gordon Murray and Steve Nichols, powered Senna to a maiden world title as McLaren claimed 10 one-two finishes from 16 races. Its successor, the MP4/5B, remained for 1989 and 1990, as Senna and Prosts feud turned nuclear -- they famously collided as teammates at the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix, before Sennas MP4/5B drove Prosts Ferrari off the circuit at Suzuka to win the championship the following season.McLarens domination continued into 1991, though Senna worked hard to overcome what he felt was an underpowered Honda engine. Winning the first four races of the season, the Williams FW14 dominated the middle of the season, before McLaren and Honda recovered to claim Sennas third championship and a record fourth constructors title in a row.Williams (1992, 1993, 1994)As one empire ended, so another began. Williams rise can be traced to the signing of technical chief Adrian Newey in 1990, with the early design of the FW14 -- which featured semi-automatic transmission, active suspension and traction control -- enough to lure Nigel Mansell back from Ferrari. Equipped with a Renault engine, the evolved FW14B was all-conquering in 1992 -- winning 11 of 17 races -- as Mansell finally won the world championship and Williams claimed the constructors title.Alain Prost replaced Mansell the following year to pilot the FW15C as the team won 10 out of 16 races. Senna, who had been unable to join in 1993 due to a clause in Prosts contract, finally got his wish to join Williams in 1994 as the Frenchman retired. The FW16 was a massive evolution of its predecessor but, despite being fast, was erratic and hard to drive. The controversial Benetton B194 was the class of the field in early 1994 and Williams struggled to match it early on. Though the team eventually claimed a third straight constructors crown -- helped by a two-race ban for Michael Schumacher -- the season was overshadowed by Sennas death at Imola.Benetton won both titles in 1995 but Williams took clean sweeps in 1996 and 1997, meaning it won five constructors crowns in six years. The loss of Newey (to McLaren) and its Renault engines at the end of 1997 signalled the end of its dominance and led to a severe downturn in form at the end of the decade.Ferraari (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004)Years without F1 success reached a nadir for Ferrari in the early 1990s, with winless seasons in 1991, 1992 and 1993.dddddddddddd. Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi claimed a solitary win in 1994 and 1995 respectively, but the team was in disarray. A radical overhaul, overseen by Di Montzemolo (now president) and team boss Jean Todt, in 1996 laid the foundations for F1s greatest-ever dynasty. Reigning double world champion Michael Schumacher joined from Benetton, bringing with him technical gurus Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne, forming a dream team that would dominate the sport like never before.Despite an inferior car, Schumacher won three times in 1996 -- including his legendary drive at the Spanish Grand Prix -- before coming close to beating superior packages to the title in 1997 and 1998. Schumacher broke his legs at the 1999 British Grand Prix and teammate Eddie Irvine narrowly missed out on the title, but the team finally won the constructors. The following year, with the F1-2000, Schumacher won Ferraris first drivers title since 1979 -- the first of five in a row.Ferraris domination of the early 2000s was absolute. The F2002 won 14 of the 19 races it entered in 2002 and 2003 (Schumacher finished every race of that season in first or second), but the pick of the bunch was the legendary F2004, which won 15 out of 18 races, claimed 12 pole positions and still holds numerous track records. Schumachers 13 wins in 2004 earned him a record seventh world championship. The dynasty ended in 2005 as Renault claimed the first of two championships.Red Bull (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)The seeds of Red Bulls dominance of the early 2010s were sewn mid-way through the previous decade. Having entered in 2005, the team set about implementing a similar dream team to Ferrari, with Helmut Marko, Peter Prodromou and Christian Horner in place by the end of 2006. So, too, was Adrian Newey, as the team pulled off a massive coup by luring the design genius from McLaren. Progress over the first three years was slow, before the rule changes in 2009 led to a dramatic rise up the pecking order with the RB5, which claimed the teams first wins and ran Brawn GP close for both titles.Neweys RB6 was the pick of the field in 2010, wrapping up the constructors championship a race early -- before Sebastian Vettel claimed a first world championship at the Abu Dhabi finale. The team retained both in commanding style the following season, with the RB7s famous blown diffuser setting it aside from the rest. A stern challenge from Ferraris Fernando Alonso followed in 2012 but, despite a slow start, the RB8 enjoyed a late resurgence (with four straight wins for Vettel from Singapore onwards) as he narrowly claimed a third drivers championship.The RB9 -- nicknamed Hungry Heidi by Vettel -- would enter the record books in 2013, as Vettel claimed 13 wins (including nine in a row to finish the season). The teams dominance would end abruptly with the introduction of V6 turbos in 2014.Mercedes (2014, 2015, 2016)The V6 turbo era could have quite legitimately be split into two classes since its beginning in 2014. Mercedes has utterly dominated the new formula, with (at present) 47 wins in 55 races and 52 pole positions in the same period. Mercedes started working on its V6 turbo engine as early as 2011, in that time formulating the innovative split-turbo design which has left rivals in its wake for three dominant seasons. The V6 project was impressive enough to convince Lewis Hamilton to end a life-long affiliation with McLaren to join a year before the new era started in 2013.Though the engine department, headed up by Andy Cowell, has gained plaudits since 2014, the technical operation led by Paddy Lowe has also produced consecutively strong chassis designs. The W05 and W06 claimed 16 wins in 2014 and 2015 respectively as Hamilton beat Nico Rosberg to back-to-back titles. The scale of Mercedes dominance has led to criticism, with the rule book arguably limiting the amount its rivals have been able to catch up, but the team has overseen one of the most dominant periods in Formula One history.It wrapped up a third straight title in Japan with the W07 last weekend and will have a third drivers championship to its name by the end of the season. It remains to be seen whether next years significant rules revamp is enough to end another of motor racings great dynasties. ' ' '