Dickie Davis (cricketer)

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Dickie Davis
Slow left-arm orthodox
RelationsDavid Fulton (brother-in-law)
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1986–1993Kent
1994–1995Warwickshire
1996–1997Gloucestershire
1998Sussex
2001Leicestershire
2001Berkshire
Career statistics
Competition First-class
List A
Matches 170 145
Runs scored 2,503 457
Batting average 15.26 10.15
100s/50s 0/5 0/1
Top score 67 56
Balls bowled 31,250 6,157
Wickets 421 141
Bowling average 34.92 32.04
5 wickets in innings 17 1
10 wickets in match 2 0
Best bowling 7/64 5/52
Catches/stumpings 157/– 56/–
Source: Cricinfo, 7 October 2010

Richard Peter Davis (18 March 1966 – 29 December 2003) was an English

slow left-arm orthodox. He was born at Westbrook, Kent
.

Early life and Kent

Davis grew up in

Thanet Technical College on the Isle of Thanet. He was coached at county level throughout his life, eventually making his first-class cricket debut for Kent in 1986 against Warwickshire. Despite making his first-class debut for the county at the age of just 20, Davis faced a challenge to remain within the team; he was expected to succeed Derek Underwood,[1] one of the finest left-arm spinners. This following the most successful period in the history of the county and with pitches at Canterbury
which were not conducive to slow bowling.

Nonetheless, between 1986 and 1993, he represented Kent in 125 first-class matches with his final appearance for the county coming against the touring

List-A cricket for Kent against Worcestershire. A tidy bowler with a good economy rate, Davis played 106 List-A matches for the county, during which time he took 103 wickets an average of 31.71, which included his only List-A five wicket haul of 5/52 against Somerset.[4] At the end of the 1993 season, the emergence of Min Patel
led Davis not to extend his Kent contract.

Moves to Warwickshire and Gloucestershire

Leaving Kent, Davis moved to

England at a time when spin bowling was a declining art. He made his first-class debut for the county against Mashonaland during Warwickshire's pre-season tour to Zimbabwe. From 1994 to 1995, he represented Warwickshire in 20 first-class matches and 12 List-A matches. In 20 first-class matches, he took 54 wickets at an average of 31.01, with 3 five wicket hauls and best figures of 6/94. In his 12 List-A matches, he took 13 wickets at an average of 22.23, with best figures of 3/19.[5] In his first season with Warwickshire, he tasted instant success as the team went on to win Warwickshire's first county cricket's first treble – Championship, Benson and Hedges Cup and AXA Equity & Law League.[6] Held in high regard by Woolmer, then Warwickshire captain Dermot Reeve did not share Woolmer's high regard of Davis and with the emergence of the young Ashley Giles
, Davis left Warwickshire at the end of the 1995 season. While at the county, Woolmer had also encouraged Davis to take up coaching later in his career, calling him a "deep thinker".

Joining

Bristol he left to join Sussex
.

Sussex and retirement

Joining Sussex for the 1998 season, he represented the county exclusively in List-A cricket. During that season he played 4 List-A matches for the county in the AXA League and

Benson and Hedges Cup against Lancashire, Middlesex and Essex twice. During his 4 match stint with the county, he took just a single wicket at a cost of 118.00, in what ultimately proved to be an unsuccessful spell. With this came his retirement from cricket at the end of 1998 season. In the following years he took up numerous coaching positions, with a successful career as a coach seemingly beckoning. During this time he became the cricket development officer for Greater London
.

Berkshire and Leicestershire

In 2001, Davis came out of retirement to play as the player-coach for

MCCA Knockout Trophy for the county against Dorset. He represented Berkshire in 4 Trophy matches, the last of which came against the Channel Islands.[9] Davis also represented Berkshire in List-A matches, the first of which came when Berkshire played the Middlesex Cricket Board and Essex in the 2001 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy. His final List-A match for Berkshire and in his career, came against Lincolnshire in the 1st round of the 2002 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy which was played in 2001.[10] It was in this match that he scored his maiden and only List-A half century, with a score of 56.[11]

2001 saw one of the most extraordinary chapters of his career, when on a coaching course in Northampton he was asked by Leicestershire to play a one-off County Championship match; this was due to Leicestershire's injury crisis at the time. Making a single appearance against Northamptonshire, he scored his final first-class half century, by making 51 runs, before being dismissed by Monty Panesar. To expand his fairy tale end of his first-class career, he took figures of 6/73; his wickets included those of Graeme Swann and Michael Hussey.[12]

Career summary

"...unflashy, good in a crisis, a brilliant pair of hands, and a much better batsman than might have been obvious – he was the best hooker we had."[13]

– Matthew Fleming describing Davis after his death.

Davis was considered an able batsman, in his entire first-class career he scored 2,503 runs at an average of 15.26, with 5 half centuries and a high score of 67. A spinner who often did not get too much spin on a

catches
. In his 145 List-A matches, he scored 457 runs at an average of 10.15, with a single half century high score of 56. With the ball he took 141 wickets at an average of 32.04, a single five wicket haul of 5/52. In the field he toom 57 catches in one-day cricket.

Something of a journeyman, Davis was the first cricketer to have represented five different first-class counties.

Death

Two weeks after playing for Leicestershire and while acting as assistant coach of the

radiotherapy and chemotherapy while still coaching Kent Women and England Women. With the treatment having little success in fighting the cancer, he underwent surgery in 2002, but his health continued to deteriorate. In 2003, while attending a match at Canterbury he was awarded a numbered county cap by his former club. Ten days before his death, his wife's sister married the then Kent captain David Fulton. Davis died at Blean
in Kent on 29 December 2003. He was buried in his Kent blazer.

References

  1. ^ Richard Davis, Times Obituary
  2. ^ First-class Bowling in Each Season by Richard Davis
  3. ^ Hampshire v Kent, 1989 County Championship
  4. ^ Somerset v Kent, 1989 Refuge Assurance League
  5. ^ List-A Bowling For Each Team by Richard Davis
  6. ^ Circinfo profile
  7. ^ First-Class Matches played by Richard Davis
  8. ^ Minor Counties Championship Matches played by Richard Davis
  9. ^ Minor Counties Trophy Matches played by Richard Davis
  10. ^ List A Matches played by Richard Davis
  11. ^ Lincolnshire v Berkshire, 2002 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy (2001)
  12. ^ Northamptonshire v Leicestershire, 2001 County Championship
  13. ^ Dickie Davis – Wisden Obituary

External links

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