A Kent cricketer discovered he had skin cancer after almost putting off a screening organised by his club.

Sam Billings had to undergo emergency surgery to remove a five-inch strip from his chest after it was found he had a malignant melanoma.

The Kent and England wicketkeeper has urged the country to take skin protection seriously following his ordeal.

He admitted to the Telegraph he has been part of a British culture - especially among men - of being “really blase” about skin damage.

“I’ve been that classic Brit abroad, as a 22-year-old with fairer hair in Australia thinking that it was worth going a bit red to end up brown,” he said.

“At home you see it all the time: it gets to 12 degrees and sunny, all the tops come off.

“I didn’t think I’d be the guy who got skin damage. I hope people see my story and think twice.”

Kent organised a skin cancer screening for their players at the end of last summer.

The 31-year-old says he attended but there was a queue - and he was running late for a meeting so he considered leaving.

But after Kent’s head physio, Dan George, reminded him of the importance of the screening, he stayed in line.

Mr Billings added: “It’s a full body screening where they look at every mole.

“There was one on my chest, by no means the biggest mole on my body, that the doctor, Andy Birnie, said didn’t look great.

“They decided I needed to have it removed so they could take a look at it.”

But after a couple of weeks, he received a call one evening from the William Harvey Hospital telling him to cancel all his plans and come in the following morning for an appointment.

“I didn’t sleep well that night,” he said. “In the morning Andy told me that I had a melanoma that was 0.6mm [deep].

“The threshold of when it gets really serious is 0.7mm, so really close.

“If I had left that screening to go to the meeting, and waited until my next one six months down the line, it could have been far more serious.

“The margins are so small but can have massive consequences.”

He was told he needed to have a five-inch strip removed the same day near where the mole had been.

The Pembury-born cricket ace recovered fast as he was playing for England in Australia in November last year - just weeks after his operation.

He says is being “far more diligent” to prevent further scares and protect his skin, including applying sun cream more regularly and checking himself for moles.

But he added: “It’s about knowing what you are looking for.

“Anything asymmetrical, not totally round, slightly discoloured.”

He has since agreed a partnership with LifeJacket Skin Protection which makes skin protection products and raises awareness about the illness.