Lead kindly light
Almost next door to my hotel, the Plough and Harrow in Hagley Road, is the Birmingham Oratory, which will forever be associated with Cardinal John Henry Newman, the most influential Roman Catholic theologian that this country has ever produced. Walking past the Oratory on my way to the newsagents this morning, I remembered the first line of Newman’s most famous hymn: “Lead kindly light, amid the encircling gloom” and thought how appropriate it is for the role that Steve Davies played for Somerset, yesterday afternoon.
He did indeed lead, in the sense both of opening the innings with Tom Abell, an experiment which I don’t doubt will be repeated, and of top-scoring, with 89 not out. As for the encircling gloom, just look at the score! He is also, if this is not stretching the analogy too far, a kindly batsman, in that he does not bludgeon the ball to the boundary so much almost as caressing it on its way. There is no more elegant stroke-maker in the game. He is the perfect stylistic antidote to the Rory Burns and Steve Smiths of this cricketing world.
His innings has been all the more remarkable and praiseworthy, given that he had just completed the best part of five gruelling sessions with the gloves on in the field, at the very fulcrum of events, without, so far as I could see, making a single mistake. Quite apart from the sheer aesthetic pleasure of seeing Steve Davies score runs, I was also happy for him as a man. He hasn’t made the contribution with the bat that was expected of him, or that he would have expected of himself, since he joined Somerset from Surrey at the start of the 2017 season. For Surrey, he averaged 42.65 with a century every seven innings; for Somerset, he has averaged 32, with just two centuries in 40 innings. Why this should be, I don’t know. Perhaps I’ll ask him later. But at any event, it is a joy to see him back in the runs.
That apart, there hasn’t been much to celebrate in this Somerset performance so far. The bowling was good in parts, but the pressure was never sustained in the way that Jeetan Patel, Will Rhodes and Oliver Hannon-Dalby managed for Warwickshire. It was pressure which accounted for Tom Abell leaving a ball which clipped the top of his off stump; and it was the frustration of being unable to get Patel and Rhodes away for 18 successive dot balls which did for Tom Banton. In between, I missed the first ball demise of Babar Azam, as I was making myself a cup of tea in the Press Lounge, but I gather he hit a leg stump half volley straight to mid-wicket, a misfortune which can happen to anybody.
So at 167/5 Somerset still need another 103 to avoid the follow-on, and another 133 to reach the relative respectability of three batting points. They wouldn’t be so far behind if, at 338/7, they hadn’t let the Warwickshire lower order off the hook with some frankly ragged bowling, which saw Jamie Overton being taken for six boundaries in two overs, plus four byes, which should really have been four wides as Steve Davies didn’t have a prayer of making the stop miles down the leg side.
Somerset’s Director of Cricket, Andy Hurry, put a brave face on things when I spoke to him at close of play, being more anxious to praise Steve Davies than to criticise his bowlers. Those bowlers have now got some serious batting to do, if Somerset are to come out of this game with anything worthwhile.
He did indeed lead, in the sense both of opening the innings with Tom Abell, an experiment which I don’t doubt will be repeated, and of top-scoring, with 89 not out. As for the encircling gloom, just look at the score! He is also, if this is not stretching the analogy too far, a kindly batsman, in that he does not bludgeon the ball to the boundary so much almost as caressing it on its way. There is no more elegant stroke-maker in the game. He is the perfect stylistic antidote to the Rory Burns and Steve Smiths of this cricketing world.
His innings has been all the more remarkable and praiseworthy, given that he had just completed the best part of five gruelling sessions with the gloves on in the field, at the very fulcrum of events, without, so far as I could see, making a single mistake. Quite apart from the sheer aesthetic pleasure of seeing Steve Davies score runs, I was also happy for him as a man. He hasn’t made the contribution with the bat that was expected of him, or that he would have expected of himself, since he joined Somerset from Surrey at the start of the 2017 season. For Surrey, he averaged 42.65 with a century every seven innings; for Somerset, he has averaged 32, with just two centuries in 40 innings. Why this should be, I don’t know. Perhaps I’ll ask him later. But at any event, it is a joy to see him back in the runs.
That apart, there hasn’t been much to celebrate in this Somerset performance so far. The bowling was good in parts, but the pressure was never sustained in the way that Jeetan Patel, Will Rhodes and Oliver Hannon-Dalby managed for Warwickshire. It was pressure which accounted for Tom Abell leaving a ball which clipped the top of his off stump; and it was the frustration of being unable to get Patel and Rhodes away for 18 successive dot balls which did for Tom Banton. In between, I missed the first ball demise of Babar Azam, as I was making myself a cup of tea in the Press Lounge, but I gather he hit a leg stump half volley straight to mid-wicket, a misfortune which can happen to anybody.
So at 167/5 Somerset still need another 103 to avoid the follow-on, and another 133 to reach the relative respectability of three batting points. They wouldn’t be so far behind if, at 338/7, they hadn’t let the Warwickshire lower order off the hook with some frankly ragged bowling, which saw Jamie Overton being taken for six boundaries in two overs, plus four byes, which should really have been four wides as Steve Davies didn’t have a prayer of making the stop miles down the leg side.
Somerset’s Director of Cricket, Andy Hurry, put a brave face on things when I spoke to him at close of play, being more anxious to praise Steve Davies than to criticise his bowlers. Those bowlers have now got some serious batting to do, if Somerset are to come out of this game with anything worthwhile.
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