Davies is finally among wickets
Sep 2 2010 by Luke Edwards, The Journal
A DURHAM bowler has not celebrated a wicket with such gusto since Steve Harmison took the final one at Kent which secured the county its first Championship title two years ago.
On that occasion, Harmison was securing the wicket that created history for English cricket’s youngest first-class county, not just the second one to fall in Nottinghamshire’s first innings in a game which means far more to the visitors than Durham.
But few can begrudge Mark Davies his moment of release because it has been a long time coming.
It was an explosion of joy and relief that, after 118 overs this season, the Teessider had finally taken a Championship wicket with the first ball of his 119th.
It was a lovely one too, drawing Alex Hales forward with a nagging length ball outside off stump, which the Notts opener edged to wicketkeeper Phil Mustard much to the delight of anyone who appreciates what Davies has endured this year.
It had taken him five games to get there, but finally Davies had something to celebrate again after a summer spent largely in the gym and physio room working on his rehabilitation from an ankle injury.
A season which promised so much after he was called into the England Test squad in South Africa over the winter has turned into one of the most testing of an already injury-ravaged career.
Durham have undoubtedly missed him as much as he has missed being involved. While strike bowlers like Harmison and Graham Onions are the heavy artillery of the Durham attack, Davies is the strategic weapon.
He is a bowler who thrives when the ball is swinging and is also capable of bowling the sort of miserly spells which tie up one end and tend to draw mistakes from batsmen when they get down the other.
He has been a vital part of the seam attack which blasted Durham to the title last year and which, because of injury, has been so sorely missed as hopes of a third successive crown faded like a garden lawn during a hosepipe ban.
