Kevin who? It is not easy to upstage an innings of 355 not out but Steven Davies did his best, and 48 hours after Kevin Pietersen’s remarkable triple century it was Davies’ brilliant 115 not out that finally won this hugely entertaining match and was the talk of The Oval.
At tea, when Leicestershire were 470 for eight, leading by 205 with a theoretical 32 overs remaining in the day, it looked for all the world as though the Foxes had saved the game. Starting the day five down and only 45 ahead, they lost Ben Raine relatively early, but Niall O’Brien, Clint McKay, Rob Taylor and Jigar Naik got their heads down and refused to give their wickets away against a Surrey attack depleted by the loss of Chris Tremlett to a hamstring injury.
Even after tea, when Zafar Ansari finally brought the innings to a close by finding the edge of Taylor’s bat to finish with a career best six for 152 off a mammoth 51 overs, the Surrey body language was that of a team unconvinced it could chase down 216 off 24 overs.
Enter Davies and Jason Roy. Roy it was who took the majority of the early strike and set the tone, bludgeoning McKay but in particular the unfortunate Raine, whose two overs were dispatched for 32 runs, to all parts. But it was Davies whose innings will live long in the memory, because the left-hander did not play a single slog: orthodox, almost elegant in style, he timed the ball to perfection, hitting the ball unerringly into the gaps, and finding the boundary more than regularly.
The result was that after 11 overs Surrey were 145 without loss, and though Roy was caught by Angus Robson over his head on the extra cover boundary – one of those catches when the fielder, realising he is going to overstep the boundary, throws the ball into the air and steps out and then back into the field of play before completing the catch – Davies simply carried on hitting the ball like a dream.
Even the great Kumar Sangakkara could not match him, perishing in the attempt, and Davies lost Gary Wilson too, but nothing was going to faze him and it was entirely appropriate that he scored the winning runs with a beautiful cover-driven four. His 115 came off 69 balls – he restrained himself once it became clear Surrey were going to stroll home – and included 11 fours and four sixes.
Pietersen? He was, apparently, in the dressing room, whence he had returned after leaving the ground before play began for a precautionary scan on a calf. The lateness of his return precluded his batting any higher than No7, but Davies ensured he would not be required to make one final walk to the wicket – as a county championship player at least.
