Steven Davies
Encyclopedia
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
cricketer
Cricketer
A cricketer is a person who plays the sport of cricket. Official and long-established cricket publications prefer the traditional word "cricketer" over the rarely used term "cricket player"....
, a wicket-keeper
Wicket-keeper
The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike...
-batsman who currently plays for Surrey
Surrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
. 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 has played ODI and Twenty20
Twenty20
Twenty20 is a form of cricket, originally introduced in England for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board , in 2003. A Twenty20 game involves two teams, each has a single innings, batting for a maximum of 20 overs. Twenty20 cricket is also known as T20 cricket...
cricket for England.
Youth and early career
Educated at King Charles I SchoolKing Charles I School
King Charles I School is a voluntary controlled mixed school in the town of Kidderminster, in the Wyre Forest district of Worcestershire, England.-Present Day and OFSTED:...
, Davies began his career playing for Worcestershire
Worcestershire County Cricket Club
Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Worcestershire...
in 2001
2001 English cricket season
The 2001 English cricket season saw Yorkshire win the County Championship for the first time since 1968. Australia again won the Ashes, this time largely due to some fine performances by Adam Gilchrist....
, playing a number of games in second eleven cricket and in the ECB 38-County Cup, and played one C&G Trophy
C&G Trophy
The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom.It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class counties compete each season. They were joined by teams from Scotland and Ireland...
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
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, averaging
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
55.25 from six innings.
Worcestershire
In 20042004 English cricket season
The 2004 English cricket season saw the English cricket team record a 4-0 Test series whitewash over the West Indies. Their one-day form was poor, however. In the Natwest Trophy, they failed to make the final, which saw New Zealand defeat the West Indies by 107 runs. And in the Natwest Challenge,...
he made his senior Worcestershire debut, in a one-day game against Sri Lanka A
Sri Lanka A cricket team
The Sri Lanka A cricket team is a national cricket team representing Sri Lanka. It is the 'second-tier' of international Sri Lankan cricket, below the full Sri Lanka national cricket team. Matches played by Sri Lanka A are not considered to be Test matches or One Day Internationals, instead...
. He also played for the England Under-19s in the home series against Bangladesh, and captained the side on tour in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
throughout the series of three "Tests" and five "One-Day Internationals". In 2004, too, Davies was awarded the NBC Denis Compton Award
NBC Denis Compton Award
The NBC Denis Compton Award is an annual award given to 'The Most Promising Young Player' at each of the 18 English first-class counties. A player may receive the award more than once.-History:...
.
Davies made his first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
debut against Loughborough UCCE
Loughborough University Centre of Cricketing Excellence
Loughborough MCC University is a cricket coaching centre based at Loughborough University in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England and the name under which the university's cricket team plays.- About :The coaching centre is largely funded by the Marylebone Cricket Club...
in April 2005
2005 English cricket season
Before the beginning of the 2005 English cricket season began, a resurgent English cricket team had won four Test series in a row, going unbeaten through the 2004 calendar year. The start of the international season saw England defeat Bangladesh 2–0 in their two-match series, winning both Tests by...
, making 6 and 37 as his county succumbed to an unimpressive eight-wicket defeat. An unsuccessful totesport League
National League (cricket)
The NatWest Pro40 League was a one-day cricket league for first-class cricket counties in England and Wales. It was inaugurated in 1999, but was essentially the old Sunday League retitled to reflect the fact that large numbers of matches were played on days other than Sunday.-Sunday League:The...
match against Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Nottinghamshire, and the current county champions. Its limited overs team is called the Nottinghamshire Outlaws...
followed a few days later, but nevertheless he opened the batting for Worcestershire in County Championship
County Championship
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales...
games against Somerset
Somerset County Cricket Club
Somerset County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Somerset...
and Durham
Durham County Cricket Club
Durham County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Durham. Its limited overs team is called the Durham Dynamos. Their kit colours are blue with yellow trim and the shirt sponsor was...
.
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
Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland....
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.
After his first call up to the England A
England A cricket team
The England Lions cricket team is a cricket team representing England and Wales. It is the "second-tier" of international English cricket below the full England cricket team, and is largely intended as a way for promising young cricketers to gain experience of playing international cricket...
squad, Davies scored 192, to date his highest first-class score, against Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club
Gloucestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Gloucestershire. Its limited overs team is called the Gloucestershire Gladiators....
in June 2006, sharing a partnership worth 345 runs with Vikram Solanki
Vikram Solanki
Vikram Singh Solanki is an Indian-born English cricketer, who plays county cricket for Worcestershire. In 2007, he became the 24th Worcestershire batsman to pass 10,000 career runs for the county. He also captained Worcestershire from 2005 to 2010, before resigning mid-season...
(who scored 222), and also taking five first-innings catches.
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). This excellent run of form resulted in his inclusion in the England ODI squad for the 2009 tour of West Indies.
Surrey
On 25 August 2009, it was announced that Davies would move from Worcestershire at the end of the season as he had signed a three-year contract with SurreySurrey County Cricket Club
Surrey County Cricket Club is one of the 18 professional county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Surrey. Its limited overs team is called the Surrey Lions...
. Davies was approached by Surrey and stated he was flattered by their offer. Surrey's director of cricket, Gus Mackay, described Davies as "an exciting, young, international player ... [who] will play a massive role in bringing long term success to Surrey". Three months later, wicket-keeper Jon Batty who had been a part of the club since 1997 left, leaving Davies as the main 'keeper with Gary Wilson
Gary Wilson (cricketer)
Gary Craig Wilson is an Irish cricketer who attended Methodist College Belfast. He is a right-handed batsman and a wicket-keeper. He has played for the Ireland cricket team since 2004, when he participated in the Under 19s World Cup. Two years later, he participated in the competition for the...
as back up.
International career
On 19 September 2005 Davies was named in the 17-man ECB National AcademyECB National Academy
The National Cricket Performance Centre first came into existence in the winter of 2001-2002 and has been based at Loughborough University since 2003. In 2007 following the "Schofield Report" the National Academy was renamed The National Cricket Performance Centre. It consists of a state of the art...
squad. In March 2006, he was called up to the England A
England A cricket team
The England Lions cricket team is a cricket team representing England and Wales. It is the "second-tier" of international English cricket below the full England cricket team, and is largely intended as a way for promising young cricketers to gain experience of playing international cricket...
squad to replace Chris Read
Chris Read
Christopher Mark Wells Read is an English cricketer, a wicket-keeper who is the captain of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club...
, who had returned home after a burglary at his house. He was named in the England A squad touring Bangladesh in 2007.
He made his Twenty20 International
Twenty20 International
A Twenty20 International is a form of cricket which is played over 20 overs per side between two national cricket teams. The game is played under the rules of Twenty20 cricket...
debut for England, opening the batting along with Ravi Bopara against the West Indies in Port of Spain
Port of Spain
Port of Spain, also written as Port-of-Spain, is the capital of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the country's third-largest municipality, after San Fernando and Chaguanas. The city has a municipal population of 49,031 , a metropolitan population of 128,026 and a transient daily population...
on March 15, 2009, top-scoring with 27 from 21 balls as England reached 55 for 1, before collapsing to 121 all out.
In October 2009, Davies was called up to England's Test
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
squad for the first time. Geoff Miller
Geoff Miller
Geoffrey Miller is an English former cricketer, who played in thirty four Tests and twenty five ODIs for England from 1976 to 1984...
, England's chairman of selectors, said "Steven is a player of great potential who has been a consistent performer for his county and he will act as understudy to Matt Prior in South Africa". Although part of the Test squad, Davies was not selected for the ODI squad on the tour.
Davies made his ODI debut in the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy semi-final against Australia on 2 October, after regular wicket-keeper Matt Prior fell ill, but only scored 5 runs in a 9-wicket defeat. Davies had to wait nearly a year for his next appearance. After both Prior and Craig Kieswetter
Craig Kieswetter
Craig Kieswetter is an England cricketer of South African and Scottish heritage. He is a wicket-keeper batsman. An aggressive batsman, he began his career with the South Africa Under-19s, before stating that he wished to play international cricket for England. He began playing county cricket for...
were dropped, Davies was given the gloves for the Pakistan ODI series
Pakistani cricket team in England in 2010
The Pakistan cricket team toured England from 29 July to 22 September 2010. The tour consisted of four Tests, two Twenty20s and five One Day Internationals .-1st Test:-2nd Test:-3rd Test:-4th Test:...
during September 2010. England won the ODI series 3-2, with Davies earning himself a man-of-the-match award in the first game after top-scoring with 87.
After the series, Davies was selected along with Prior as a keeper in England's squad for the 2010-11 Ashes series in Australia, although he was not required to play as England retained the Ashes with a 3-1 victory. In the one-day games that followed, he played in two Twenty20s before scoring 42 in the first ODI. However, when the squad for the 2011 World Cup
2011 Cricket World Cup
The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup was the tenth Cricket World Cup. It was played in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. It was Bangladesh's first time co-hosting a World Cup...
was announced before the second ODI, Davies was left out in favour of Prior, who then joined up with the ODI side despite not originally being selected in the squad.
Personal life
Davies is openly gayGay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
. He came out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
publicly on 27 February 2011 in an interview with The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
. He had come out to his family five years earlier, and he was also already out to his teammates. He became the first international cricketer to announce his homosexuality.