FEW young batsmen have been more lauded in recent years than Billy Godleman, the son of a cabbie who grew up within walking distance of Arsenal’s Highbury stadium and supported Liverpool. He did not play any cricket at school, scored 113 not out for Middlesex on his County Championship debut and, as if living in a bygone age, travels to Lord’s on public transport.

Gifted enough to have represented England Under19s at the age of 17, he will be opening the batting for them next weekend against their Pakistani counterparts. Godleman is one of those cricketers whose reputation spread rapidly.

When he was 10, he was playing, through the auspices of the London Cricket Association, with Rory Hamilton-Brown, now of Surrey and his England U-19 captain. His father, John, was a decent wicketkeeper/batsman for Hampstead CC: Billy would pinch his bat and play the game wherever he could. At his London comprehensive school, Islington Green, this was on any spare slab of concrete.

Middlesex had an eye on him from a very young age. At the indoor school in Finchley he was coached by Toby Radford and Jason Pooley, but it was his father, who would forgo fares by chauffeuring him to matches around the country, to whom he is most grateful. “Dad sacrificed a lot to get me to where I needed to be and I hope I am repaying him,” said Godleman. Indeed he is. A heavy scorer at England U-19 level, he made an unbeaten 69 on his first-class debut against Cambridge University two years ago at the age of 16. He was the second-youngest person to be chosen to play for Middlesex. Even so, he had to wait until this April for his first championship appearance.

Somerset, including Andrew Caddick and Charl Willoughby, were the opposition at Taunton. “Batting was difficult on the first morning, but it turned out to be the flattest pitch I had ever played on,” said Godleman. He had grown up watching Caddick, but in a high-scoring match he played him and the other bowlers with assurance, looking to play off the front foot and working the ball to leg with low hands in the manner of the tall left-hander – 6ft 3in – that he is. Now, having made 11 first-class appearances, he has scored 781 runs at an average of 52.06.

“I have never known anyone work so hard as Billy. He is a lovely lad, always wanting to learn, and he talks cricket all the time – in fact he needs to relax a bit,” said John Emburey, the county’s director of cricket. “Is he crab-like? A lot of left-handers are. They can fall over a bit when the ball comes back into them, like Alastair Cook does. Billy has always played above his age group and is still working out his game. We have been protective of him and have not encouraged him to give interviews.”

By preference, Godleman is an opener. “I started the season going in at No 5, maybe because it was thought best to ease me in,” he said.

Middlesex have wanted to let him develop in proper cricket – he has played in only two one-day fixtures this season – but has travelled to Ebbw Vale for their Pro40 match against Glamorgan today. Then he will be back to Lord’s for a championship fixture starting on Tuesday. Straight after its conclusion on Friday, he will journey by train, his favoured mode of transport, to Scarborough for the first U-19 match starting the next day.

His family have moved to Ipswich and his father continues to work, for there are two younger siblings to support. So Godleman travels on his own by train or Tube from his flat in Islington, or in a teammate’s car.

He has failed his driving test once and has had scant time to take it again. This winter there is the U-19 World Cup in Malaysia, and, given that he does not turn 19 until next February, he will still be eligible for U-19 cricket next year, assuming Middlesex do not pull him out for championship fixtures in the manner that Yorkshire have done with Adil Rashid. Emburey, very much the old pro, is not one for extravagant predictions, but he knows he has a talent, and a dedicated one at that.