Sam Billings was only 90 minutes away from boarding a flight to the UK on Friday when he received an SOS call from an England side plagued with injuries.
Ollie Pope kept wicket as a substitute fielder for England during Australia’s second innings at the SCG in place of Jos Buttler, who copped a blow to his left index finger while keeping on day two.
Buttler had an x-ray at the end of that day but England are waiting until the end of the fourth Test to evaluate the extent of the injury.
Jonny Bairstow was unable to take the gloves for Buttler after sustaining a blow to his right thumb while batting on day three and also went for scans before resuming batting in the morning, adding an extra 10 runs to his overnight score before he was dismissed on 113.
While Pope did an excellent job behind the stumps, taking four catches, England are yet to decide if he will fill the wicketkeeper role in the fifth Test in Hobart, or if Sam Billings will go straight into the XI.
Billings is yet to make his Test debut but has kept for Kent at domestic level in ODIs and T20Is for England.
After playing for the Sydney Thunder in the BBL, Billings was waiting to board a plane England on Friday evening, ahead of England’s T20I tour of the Caribbean, when he was drafted into the squad as cover.
“It was very close, about 90 minutes,” said acting head coach, Graeme Thorpe. “So, you know, it was obviously the way the situation unfolded yesterday.
“I was impressed by Ollie Pope actually when he stood in today.
“So who knows where we're at after this game and the options which are available to us.”
Ben Stokes is also in doubt for the Hobart Test after suffering a side strain while bowling on day two.
Stokes discomfort was evident while he formed a courageous partnership with Bairstow on day three before also going for scans.
While Thorpe indicated Stokes could possibly play as a specialist batter in Hobart, it is doubtful England would risk further injury to one of their most valuable players with the series already lost.
“Obviously, with Stokes, his injury is not a great one, being an allrounder” said Thorpe. “So we'll have to see generally what we can do with that situation.
“I think sometimes the adrenaline running through the body when you're out there can actually assist you.
“And then probably there are times when you have to sort of assess the whole injury going into a fresh game as well.
“So that’s the thing which we'll have to do at the end of the game.”
England go into the final day at the SCG trailing Australia by 358 runs with all ten wickets in hand after Haseeb Hameed and Zac Crawley put on 30 runs in the final hour of play.
With Bairstow, Stokes and Buttler all carrying injuries, England’s hopes of salvaging a draw may rest on their top order producing their best performance of the series.
“With some of the injuries which we've got, we're going to need whether it's two, three or four of our players to really stand up and bat for a long time and actually play positively, have a good mental approach to it,” said Thorpe. “I thought tonight our approach from Zac and Has was very good.
“They moved well, you know they had to be in the field obviously for a long time, it was hot today.
“I thought they moved well, to see their intent, defending well and being able to put the ball which came along to actually score off, the scoring runs is important for your confidence, even when you're actually trying to play for a draw as well.
“I still like people to be positive in the way they're thinking and the ability to score runs as well puts you in a better place.
“But I suppose it's little blocks of time as well tomorrow, ten overs each, trying to work together in sort of partnerships.
“And I was pleased with the way they went about it tonight.
“It's been challenging for for some of them technically and mentally.
“I said at the beginning some of our younger players are trying to establish themselves and own a place on the table.
“And they’ve got opportunities tomorrow to do that.
“I thought it was a good start tonight. But we need a hell of a lot more of it again tomorrow.”
