Ordsall Quays Red wrote:
I'm a big Davies fan as well and don't think he was given the chances to perform for England. I wasn't being facetious neither I was just saying that one minute he's in the squad, the next he isn't once he's come out....didn't mean anything by it, just one of those coincidences.
It was certainly very odd the way the selectors reversed their decision to include him in the World Cup squad after they'd already picked him. Maybe this was related to the timing of his coming out, and maybe he wouldn't have been in the right frame of mind to be playing in a high profile tournament at that time, but if so they should have come clean and said so. The explanation that he wasn't vocal enough behind the stumps smacked of an excuse - surely the selectors must have known that a bit earlier if that's the case?
Ordsall Quays Red wrote:
Davies is without a shadow of a doubt the best gloveman in the country, does Kieswetter's apparent bigger hitting (which I haven't particularly seen for England yet) negate Davies' better keeping??
Davies was execellent with both bat and gloves in his first season at Surrey last year, hence his selection for the Ashes tour, but he hasn't been quite so consistent this year especially in the four day games, and I still think Chris Read is the best keeper in the country although we all know the selctors won't pick him again. Young Michael Bates at Hants looks an exceptional keeper, especially standing up the stumps either to spinners or the likes of Mascarenhas and Cork, but as he's something of a tailender in the Bob Taylor mould he won't even get close to the England set up unless he can improve his batting.
Davies is a high class opening batsman in the limited overs game; he's not what you'd call a brutal hitter, but he's got all the shots, and as the stats in your earlier post reveal, he can score faster than the ostensibly bigger-hitting Kieswetter. Given the selectors' obsessive requirement that a limited overs keeper has to open the batting I can't think of a better option for ODIs or T20.
Matt Prior has rightly made the Test spot his own with consistently impressive and dominant displays, but it will be interesting to see who is picked as back up for the forthcoming Test series this winter. If it's not Davies I'll want to know why, because if you want someone to replicate Prior's batting contribution it's a no brainer. He's batted regularly in the top five for Surrey and has a first class career average of 40. With the possible exception of the less experienced Jonny Bairstow, who I haven't seen in the flesh since his early games a couple of years back, Davies is the best batsman of all the comtemporary English wicketkeepers and his keeping is good enough.
