Ollie Davies was the breakout star of the last Sheffield Shield season and shapes as a key component of NSW's title push
Unplayable Pod: The net session that sparked Ollie’s season
"It was just funny how I just wasn't even being looked into and then by the end of the season, I was a pretty big part of the side."
Ollie Davies was so disenchanted with long-form cricket, 12 months ago he toyed with the idea of giving it up.
He had two Sheffield Shield games to his name, but wasn’t picked for the opening rounds of the 2023-24 summer.
The 22-year-old had a big call to make.
Commit to becoming a white-ball specialist and follow the riches on offer on the global T20 circuit?
Or heed the advice of NSW batting coach Nick Larkin to get through his upcoming second XI match, keep things simple and not write anything off?
Thankfully for all those at NSW, the batting dynamo chose the latter. As fate would have it, days later he caught the eye of head coach Greg Shipperd in a net session that would flip the fortunes of Davies’ season and potentially, career.
"I had a net session at SCG about a week out from the WA Shield game," Davies tells the Unplayable Podcast.
"And I went in there and I just tried to knuckle down for a bit.
"Shippy was watching me and he came up to me afterwards and said, 'That's the best net session I've ever seen you have - if we see more of that, you'll be playing for New South Wales'.
"And then literally a day later Jack Edwards got injured, so he said, 'Ollie, you batted so well the other day, I'm going to give you a crack because of that.'"
Unplayable Podcast state previews
- WA preview with Lance Morris
- SA preview with Jordan Buckingham
- TAS preview with Charlie Wakim
That was all Davies needed.
Coming up against the two-time reigning Shield champions Western Australia, he scored a sublime 129 from 143 deliveries in a match that saw the mighty WA bowled out for 141 and 136.
He'd make another two hundreds before the season was out too, finishing with 670 runs in seven matches and earning a place in the Sheffield Shield Team of the Season.
"I thought about quitting red-ball cricket before the start of last season because I wasn't playing," Davies said. "And now I love red-ball cricket."
Listen to the full chat with Davies on the latest episode of the Unplayable Podcast, wherever you get your pods or in the player above.