- Brian Davison
"This article is about the cricketer. For the drummer, see
Brian Davison (drummer) ."Brian Fettes Davison (born 21 December 1946) is a former cricketer who played 467 first-class matches for Rhodesia, Gloucestershire, Leicestershire and Tasmania. Described as "an aggressive, fast-scoring right-handed batsman"cite book | last=Martin-Jenkins | first=Christopher | authorlink=Christopher Martin-Jenkins | title=World Cricketers: A Biographical Dictionary | year=1996 | publisher=Oxford University Press | location=Oxford | id=ISBN 019210005X ] , Davison was also a useful right-arm medium-pace bowler and an outstanding fielder who captained Rhodesia in 25 matches.
Born in
Bulawayo in what was thenRhodesia , Davison attended Gifford Technical High School in Bulawayo, where his sporting skills were first evident (he also represented Rhodesia infield hockey ). Davison made his first-class debut for Rhodesia on 25 November 1967, against Natal B in Salisbury, scoring 47. Davison soon attracted the attention of English county club Northamptonshire, playing for their Second XI in 1969 before switching to rival club Leicestershire in 1970.Through the 1970s, Davison played for Leicestershire and Rhodesia, serving as captain of both, won the 1971
Walter Lawrence Trophy for a 63 minute century, named the "South African Cricket Annual" Cricketer of the Year in 1973 and led Rhodesia to their first major South African trophy, scoring an unbeaten 102 at the 1977/78 Datsun Shield final.Davison was enticed to captain Tasmania in 1979/80 and transferred from Leicestershire to rival county side Gloucestershire in 1981. His leadership of a Tasmania newly inducted into the
Sheffield Shield proved crucial to an inexperienced side and he continued to alternate between Gloucestershire and Tasmania until his retirement from first-class cricket at the conclusion of the 1987/88 Australian domestic season. By his retirement, Davison had scored 27453 first-class runs, with 53 centuries, which remained the most by any Rhodesian or Zimbabwean until surpassed byGraeme Hick cite book | last=Martin-Jenkins | first=Christopher | authorlink=Christopher Martin-Jenkins | title=World Cricketers: A Biographical Dictionary | year=1996 | publisher=Oxford University Press | location=Oxford | id=ISBN 019210005X ] . 37 of those were for Leicestershire; the second most by any Leicestershire playercite web | url=http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Records/England/Firstclass/Leicestershire/Batting_Records/Most_Hundreds_For.html | title=Most Hundreds for Leicestershire | accessdate=2007-07-08 | publisher=Cricket Archive] , while his 18537 runs for Leicestershire puts him ninth of their all time highest runscorer listcite web | url=http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Records/England/Firstclass/Leicestershire/Batting_Records/Most_Career_Runs.html | title=Most Career Runs for Leicestershire | accessdate=2007-07-08 | publisher=Cricket Archive] .Davison was also a successful one day player, making 8343 List A runs, including 6744 for Leicestershire (bettered by only four other Leicestershire players)cite web | url=http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Records/England/ListA/Leicestershire/Batting_Records/Most_Career_Runs.html | title=Most Career Runs for Leicestershire | accessdate=2007-07-08 | publisher=Cricket Archive] . This included an unbeaten 158 in 1972, which remained the highest List A score for the county until 1996.cite web | url=http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Records/England/ListA/Leicestershire/Batting_Records/Highest_Innings_For.html | title=Highest List A Innings for Leicestershire | accessdate=2007-07-08 | publisher=Cricket Archive] .
Following his retirement from cricket, Davison remained in
Tasmania and was elected as a Liberal representative to theTasmanian Legislative Assembly Division of Franklin in 1990, where he served until his defeat at the 1996 election cite web | url=http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/history/tasparl/davisonb685.htm | title=The Parliament of Tasmania from 1856 | accessdate=2007-07-08 | publisher=Tasmania Members Biographical Database, Tasmanian Parliamentary Library] .References
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