Sam Billings hit 118 in a losing cause for England against Australia in the first of three ODIs at Old Trafford the other day, and statisticians noticed that this was the first one day international hundred made by a Kent player for England. The previous Highest Score By A Kent Player In ODIs For England (HSBAKPIODIFE) was set only a few months earlier, but who was the first man to hold this proud record? Not Lord Harris this time.

In the first ever official One Day International, rather hastily arranged during the England tour to Australia over the winter of 1970/71, two Kent players were in the side. This was as 40 over a side match, billed originally as “Australians v M.C.C.” but subsequently upgraded to the rank of ODI, played at the MCG on 5 January 1971 in front of 46,000 spectators, with no thought to social distancing. The two Kent players were Colin Cowdrey and Alan Knott. Cowdrey was the first Kent batsman to take strike for England in an ODI, the first to score a run and the first to get out. He was out for just the one run, but that was enough to earn him the honour of HSBAKPIODIFE, at least until it was taken away from him by Alan Knott an over or two later. Knotty went on to make 24, setting the (rather modest) mark for future Kent players to beat.

This score of 24 lasted for another eighteen months, but in the ODI at Lord’s on 26 August 1972, the first ODI half-century by a Kent player was recorded. The player in question? Alan Knott again, who made exactly 50, which proved to be his only ODI half-century. England lost this game, by five wickets, but the next man to raise the HSBAKPIODIFE a little higher did so in a winning cause. That man was Mike Denness, whose 66 won the Man of the Match award as England beat West Indies at Headingley by one wicket on 5 September 1973. This was the first of the 12 ODIs Mike Denness played for England, captaining the side in all of them, but he never beat the score he made first time out.

Mike’s record lasted for the best part of seven years, until it was beaten by the man who unfairly became almost a byword for slow scoring, Chris Tavaré. Kent fans know that Tav could score in a hurry when he wanted to, as he did in his 82 not out against West Indies, also at Headingley on 28^th and 29^th May 1980, one of the few One Day Internationals to last for two days. Tavaré made his runs on the second day, and according to Wisden, “playing his first match at this level, batted very well” and duly picked up the Man of the Match award, even though West Indies won by 24 runs. This was the first of four consecutive matches Tavaré played against the tourists that summer – two ODIs, and a game for Kent followed by the First Test. He didn’t reach 20 in any of his other innings in those games.

Tav’s time as holder of the HSBAKPIODIFE title was extended three years later, when he beat his own record by just one run, scoring 83 not out against New Zealand at the Sydney Cricket Ground, as part of the 1982/83 Benson and Hedges World Series Cup competition against Australia and New Zealand. I am sure you will all remember this pivotal series, so I barely need to remind you that England came third, but at least we won this game. Tav’s contribution was important, but he was outshone by Allan Lamb, who made 108 not out and took the MoM award.

Who would have thought that the HSBAKPIODIFE title would have been held for almost 40 years by Chris Tavaré? But his 83 not out was a bigger score than most subsequent Kent ODI internationals, including Messrs. Key, Woolmer, Ealham and Fleming, managed in all their games. Geraint Jones made a valiant 80 against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo on 5 December 2004, but that was as near as any Kent player came to toppling the Tavaré score from 1980 to 2020. 

It was not until earlier this year, that the Tavaré name was wiped from the HSBAKPIODIFE records. On 4^th February 2020, Joe Denly scored 87 off 103 balls against South Africa at Newlands as England lost the first ODI of the series. The second match was rained off at Kingsmead, Durban (as I’m sure you all remember) but the third gave England the win they needed to share the series. In that game Joe Denly, in what may prove to be his final ODI appearance for England, top scored for England with 66, his fourth ODI 50.

But it was left to Sam Billings to score the first ODI century by a Kent player for England. It was a superb innings, but in a losing cause. How long will it be before another Kent player (or Sam again) scores an ODI hundred for England? 118 is now a high mark to beat, but being selfish, I hope it doesn’t last for too long.

Incidentally, I have not done the research to find the highest ODI score by a Kent overseas player in an ODI for his country. In 227 ODIs for West Indies, Carl Hooper’s highest score was 113*, so Sam has beaten him at least.

While I’ve been writing this, I’ve been watching Zak Crawley on the streaming service score 108 not out, slaughtering the Hampshire attack in the Vitality Blast, off 54 balls. Maybe he will be the next Kent ODI centurion. Let’s hope so.