Steven Davies struck 82 to lead his side away from trouble, after which the Surrey batsman reiterated his desire to retake the gloves

Tim Wigmore at Kia Oval19-Jun-2016
ScorecardSteven Davies struck a valuable 82•Getty ImagesOn March 15 2009, a ragtag England side, fresh from being bundled out for 51 en route to defeat in the Test series, faced West Indies in a T20 game in Trinidad. That Andrew Strauss led England’s T20 side embodied their frazzled state.Predictably, England were thrashed. Amid the wreckage of an ignominious defeat a little solace came from the bat of Steven Davies: making his international debut aged 22, Davies top scored with a crisp 27.On Friday, Davies turned 30, an age that invites self-reflection among all of us, but especially in those with career as short as that of professional sportsmen. Davies has much to be proud of: over 10,000 first-class runs at a tick above 40 apiece, and each made with an élan rarely spied on the county circuit.And yet all these runs cannot quite detract from the abiding sense of Davies’ career as being a little unfulfilled. In the seven years since his England debut, Davies has added just 12 more international caps, and has yet to play a Test match. “I’m fairly happy with it,” Davies said of his career to date. “I’ve represented England, which was one of my goals as a young boy.”All his batting qualities were in evidence against Nottinghamshire at The Oval. While Surrey slipped to 172 for 6, Davies remained impervious to the sense of crisis mounting over Surrey’s Division One status. As much as any shots that Kumar Sangakkara played during his 29, Davies’s every stroke oozed elegance.Consecutive boundaries off Brett Hutton – one glided through third man, the other caressed to fine leg of his hips – encapsulated Davies’ ability to reach the boundary without any discernible effort. There are few more aesthetic batsmen on the county circuit, and here that elegance was married with grit: Davies played Jake Ball with meticulous care, leaving the ball with great precision. The shame was that Davies played on for 82 in the evening gloom. In his own judgement, it was a microcosm of his wider challenge to capitalise upon his good starts.”It’s just application. It’s turning those 80s, like I got today, into 120 or 130. I once spoke to Rob Key about batting and he said, ‘You can’t score runs every day, but when it is your day, make sure it’s a massive score.’ For me, it’s turning those decent scores into really big ones, and that will take me to the next level.”Davies’ delicate cuts, played so late that the ball already seemed safely nestled inside the wicketkeeper’s gloves, were also infused with a rather elegiac quality. His aptitude in the first-class game befits a stage greater than a dingy day at The Oval, but Davies might never get it.The debate over Jonny Barstow’s readiness as a Test wicketkeeper, for all his gluttonous recent run-scoring, emphasises that England have lacked an established Test keeper since Matt Prior’s form deserted him three years ago.It was once assumed that Davies would replace Prior. But the tragic death of Tom Maynard, a close friend, in 2012 triggered a collapse in his form, and later a battle with depression. After that fateful year Davies’ form has remained good without ever quite being scintillating, but his England ambitions have been undermined by a decision he made early in the summer of 2014, to stop keeping wicket and play as a specialist batsman instead. Surrey were taken aback. Davies has still made easily enough runs to justify his place in the team, but far from enough to suggest to the England selectors he could play international cricket as a specialist batsman.At the start of this season Davies declared his intent to regain the gloves and, in so doing, maximise his England ambitions. But halfway through the summer, Davies has not kept wicket in a single game, in any format. With each match that passes, so his international ambitions subtly recede.To keep for Surrey, Davies needs to usurp Ben Foakes and also Gary Wilson, who has kept ahead of Davies in white-ball cricket. “I’ve got to bide my time,” he said. “It’s frustrating, but it’s just the way it is. I’m in the last year of my contract so we’ll see what happens at the end of the year.”If he did choose to leave, Davies would not be short of suitors – Essex, Nottinghamshire and Somerset are among the counties potentially attracted by his consistent run-scoring – but might need to accept less than his hefty wage at The Oval. Davies could face a conflict between pursuing his England ambitions and safeguarding his financial future.The greatest reason for that is the eminent potential of Foakes. Trevor Bayliss has spoken about Foakes’ potential as a future England keeper. Here there were glimpses of why: consecutive flicks to the leg-side boundary off Harry Gurney brimmed with panache, even if Foakes’ stay at the crease was too fleeting. Despite Arun Harinath’s 73, which became progressively more fluent as it progressed, there was something worryingly familiar about the meekness of Surrey’s top order.”We need to play tougher, smarter cricket,” Davies said. That he did just that, allied to Nottinghamshire’s reliance upon their opener pair of quicks and the counterpunching of Tom Curran, meant that Surrey were able to salvage a position of near-parity by the close. But, once again, both Davies and his club would have hoped for even better.