In appreciation of Alex Davies: Lancashire's opener continues to thrive in the silence

ELIZABETH BOTCHERBY AT EMIRATES OLD TRAFFORD: The Lancashire wicketkeeper spent just two hours in the middle but posted a second half-century of the season to strengthen his international credentials

Scorecard

Emirates Old Trafford on a spring day is a majestic sight. Uninterrupted sunshine, 13 men clad in white striding around a perfectly manicured outfield (plus two stood stock still in black and white), and Trafford Town Hall peeking through the gap between the pavilion and the Hilton Garden Inn.

The only thing missing from Lancashire’s first red-ball outing in M16 for 574 days was a crowd offering not the raucous theatre of a T20 bonanza, but polite appreciation for a solid forward defensive.

Even through the glass of the media centre, every sound was audible. The smack of leather on willow echoing in the empty stadium like the cue ball kissing the black at The Crucible, the rumbling cheers from the neighbouring changing room balconies, and the commanding yells of non-strikers ordering their partners to stay.

But one man who has embraced the silence is Alex Davies. In 2019, as Lancashire cantered to the Division Two title, he played very much a supporting role – 468 runs, one hundred and two half-centuries but unlikely to garner an Oscar nod for his efforts. However, in 2020, he stepped up, battering 337 runs in eight innings, including four fifties, a high score of 86 against Derbyshire, and an average just a couple of runs shy of 50.

And he’s carried last season’s form into 2021. A measured 61 off 124 deliveries, painstakingly slow by his swashbuckling standards, in wintery conditions against Sussex to kick off his campaign followed by a rapid half-century on day one against Northamptonshire.

His innings was over before lunch (a delightful meat and potato pie with chips and assorted greens, for those interested) – a misunderstanding with Josh Bohannon and a sharp throw from Tom Taylor resulting in an unfortunate run-out for 57 – but for 117 minutes, it was glorious, and deserving of a warm reception from the Red Rose faithful.

Davies is the polar opposite of his opening partner, Keaton Jennings, both in physique – "He’s a small guy, I’m fairly gangly" Jennings quipped during his pre-season media duties – and playing style.

Jennings bats like a man with nine lives, always in danger of losing his wicket (and he nearly did in the first over, dropped by Ricardo Vaconcelos at first slip) but a solid bet for a big score once he eventually plays himself in; Davies, on the other hand, looks confident from the first ball he faces.

His first boundary of the day came off his 23rd ball, a smart drive through extra cover to take his score to 14. His second, a handsome shot through mid-on which sped away to the boundary rope.

However, the shots of the day – they were too good to separate – came in the 21st over. Hogging the strike despite new partner Bohannon needing just six runs to pass 1,000 for Lancashire, Davies stroked two near-identical boundaries to his legside to leave Nathan Buck scratching his head and force Adam Rossington to emerge from behind the stumps to instil some pearls of wisdom.

It didn’t work, Davies carved the offside delivery through point for his seventh boundary of the day before running three to bring up his sixth fifty in his last ten innings off the final ball of the over.

21 balls later, he was gone for 57 (79 balls), his pursuit of a first first-class century since July 2019 cut short in disappointing, if slightly comical, fashion – and his frustration was plain to see, swiping the ground multiple times as he departed.

An unfortunate end to a promising innings, his 29th career half-century never really getting the chance to mature into a sixth three-figure knock, but a performance which once again raised a possibly unpopular question: if he were a more fashionable cricketer would he be properly in the mix for an England call-up?

Speaking to Lancashire Telegraph ahead of this fixture, Davies was very matter of fact about his international ambitions: "I'm just going to take it run by run for Lancashire and ultimately if I put all those things in place further on it could happen."

However, having scored 455 runs at a strike rate of 60.59 in ten innings since the start of August 2020, and with England’s batsmen failing to inspire this winter, would taking a punt on the Lancashire lad be too much of a stretch?

^{Northamptonshire's Simon Kerrigan during his time at Lancashire}

But enough on Davies, the real star of the show – and a player whose involvement lasted longer than two hours – was Simon Kerrigan. Released by Lancashire in 2018 after nearly a decade of service, the spinner joined Northants in 2020 after drifting around the Northern Premier League for a season.

He took just three wickets in two Bob Willis Trophy appearances last season but on his return to his old stomping ground, he looked a picture of the bowler who took 40+ first-class wickets in a season on four occasions for Lancashire – or, as a voice in the media centre commented, "turned into Shane Warne, all of a sudden."

Pinning Bohannon – the run-out villain and score of a patient 156-ball 68 – lbw in the 62nd over to pick up his first wicket, the 31-year old then removed Rob Jones (stumped Rossington) and Dane Vilas (lbw) in consecutive overs to reduce Lancashire to 212 for six and turn what had been a classic County Championship tug-of-war contest into advantage Northants.

Tom Hartley and Saqib Mahmood stoically batted Lancashire through to the end of the day but with the home side teetering on 264 for eight, and Kerrigan picking up three for 53, he will go to bed dreaming of recording his first five-for since Lancashire v Middlesex in September 2016.

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