In a side that has often struggled in recent seasons, Liam Davis can hold his head high as one of the most consistent players in the Western Australian squad. The opening batsman has played a number of telling innings, including one against NSW that he will never forget.
Despite starring as a first-class cricketer, Davis in fact made his debut in the limited-overs arena against the Redbacks in 2006. It was a stern test for the then 21 year old, with South Australia boasting a pace quartet featuring the likes of Jason Gillespie, Ryan Harris, Mark Cleary and Shaun Tait.
Davis recovered from that early baptism of fire and gradually found himself at home in the 50 over format. The 2010/11 season was one he will particularly cherish, as the left-handed batsman went on to record back to back centuries to start the season.
While he has enjoyed some success against the white ball, Davis’ game is certainly best suited to four day combat. He showed maturity in his first season for the Warriors, scoring a composed 116 against the formidable NSW Blues. It was a taste of things to come for the Blues, who would feel Davis’ true wrath in the years to come.
In his 40 games to date, Davis has amassed 2,373 runs for the Warriors, including four centuries. Although he hit a lean pitch in the 2012/13 season, it would be remiss not to mention his heroics against the Blues.
Despite being a solid player at the time, Davis wasn’t the sort of batsman who would strike fear into an opposition attack. Nowadays, at least one team hopes his name isn’t on the team sheet. In February 2012, Davis belted the Blues into oblivion with a whirlwind 303* as WA went on to humiliate the Blues by an innings and 323 runs. Davis alone outscored NSW by a whopping 66 runs; and they batted twice!
