Steven Davies

Steven Michael Davies (born 17 June 1986 in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire) is an English cricketer, a wicket-keeper/batsman who plays for Worcestershire. A stylish and aggressive left-handed batsman who can open the batting in both first-class and limited-overs cricket (though in the former he generally now bats in the middle order), he is also a regular and natural wicket-keeper.

Educated at King Charles I School, Davies began his Worcestershire career in 2001, playing a number of games in second eleven cricket and in the ECB 38-County Cup, and played one C&G Trophy match in each of the following two seasons. In February and March 2004 he appeared for England Under-19s in the Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh, averaging 55.25 from six innings.

In 2004 he made his senior Worcestershire debut, in a one-day game against Sri Lanka A. He also played for the England Under-19s in the home series against Bangladesh, and captained the side on tour in India throughout the series of three "Tests" and five "One-Day Internationals". In 2004, too, Davies was awarded the NBC Denis Compton Award.

Davies made his first-class debut against Loughborough UCCE in April 2005, making 6 and 37 as his county succumbed to an unimpressive eight-wicket defeat. An unsuccessful totesport League match against Nottinghamshire followed a few days later, but nevertheless he opened the batting for Worcestershire in County Championship games against Somerset and Durham.

A run of poor scores (4, 1, 1 and 0) put the pressure on Davies, and despite an effort of 49 in the second innings against Leicestershire he was again relegated to the second XI in mid-June, and he failed to make a significant impact in the Under-19 series against Sri Lanka. Recalled to the Worcestershire first team, however, he grasped the opportunity with both hands, making 59, 5, 95, 37 and 148 in successive Championship innings. Originally playing as a specialist opening batsman, he moved down the order and took over duties behind the stumps from Jamie Pipe mid-way through 2005.

On 19 September 2005 Davies was named in the 17-man ECB National Academy squad. In March 2006, he was called up to the England A squad to replace Chris Read, who had returned home after a burglary at his house. After returning, Davies scored 192 [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Scorecards/85/85567.html] , to date his highest first-class score, against Gloucestershire in June 2006, sharing a partnership worth 345 runs with Vikram Solanki (who scored 222), and also taking five first-innings catches.

He was named in the England A squad touring Bangladesh in 2007.

Towards the end of the 2008 domestic season, Davies hit an outstanding run of form in the 40-over Natwest League, in which he both kept wicket and opened the batting; his scores in August were 16 off 18 balls, 103 not out off 100, 59 off 53, 92 off 93, and 119 off 87 (the 103* and 119 being his first two limited overs centuries).

External links

*cricinfo|ref=england/content/player/12450.html
* [http://www.cricketarchive.co.uk/Archive/Players/45/45352/45352.html Statistical summary] from CricketArchive