Last Updated on 1 hour ago by Charbel Coorey
Left-arm spinner Joel Davies is still coming to terms with a memorable start to his international career after making an instant splash against Bangladesh. The 22-year-old took match-winning figures of 3 for 17 in the first T20I and played an essential part in Australia’s victory.
Davies’ performance was widely acclaimed, but the significance of the occasion was not fully appreciated until he returned home to New South Wales and celebrated the achievement with his family.
His Australia cap now sits alongside other prized possessions from his cricketing journey, with the young spinner looking to add many more milestones in years to come.
Joel Davies: Australian Cap Takes Pride of Place
Speaking to Cricinfo in an interview, Davies said, “So I’ve got my New South Wales baggy blue and my Australian cap in my room now. Nathan Ellis gave the cap to me with a nice speech. Alongside those, I also have my Manly grade cricket hat, which represents my club. They’re sort of my big three hats I’ve got at the moment. Fingers crossed there’s more to be added to that.
“I think it probably didn’t sink in everything until I got back home when I guess I saw my family and my girlfriend. They were so excited and I realised how big of a deal it actually was what I’d done.”
Davies also shared a light hearted moment with his older brother Ollie Davies who has also played for New South Wales in domestic cricket. The two brothers previously played together for the Sydney Thunder but will be reunited at the Sydney Sixers for the upcoming Big Bash League season.
There was a bit of friendly rivalry after the younger Davies became the first of the two brothers to play for australia he said, “Yeah, (boasted about the debut) a little bit. No, Ollie was very supportive and very loving of how well I performed. But it was good to have a little bit of brotherly rivalry and get the wood over him to play for Australia first.”
Australia’s Busy International Season Is His Next Focus
Davies was back in training quickly after his international debut as preparations for Australia’s home season got underway. He is in Chennai for two weeks at the MRF Academy where spin friendly surfaces are being prepared under the watchful eyes of former Australia captain Tim Paine.
Davies believes that getting experience in Indian conditions will aid his development, particularly if he gets opportunities in the subcontinent in the future.
“It was sort of back to reality pretty quick with NSW training and straight back into fitness,” Davies says. “Yeah, lots of running and getting pretty tired throughout every day when they were working us really hard.
“The conditions are different here. In Australia there’s limited turn and here it’s renowned for spin and turn. So just learning from exposure to these conditions. And whether that’s successful or not, I think it’s going to be a massive part in potentially coming back [to India] in the near future for red-ball cricket or T20 cricket. It’s going to be a great learning experience for everyone here.”
Davies, who has played just five first class matches to date, has already made his mark in the Big Bash League and wants to represent Australia in all formats of the game.
“I think I’m still young enough to play every format at the moment. But I think it will help develop my skills in four day cricket, one day cricket and T20 cricket along with playing as much cricket as I can. So I don’t think I’m pigeonholing myself right now. I certainly have aspirations of playing Test cricket for Australia at some point in my career. That would be really good.”
On Advice From Steve O’Keefe: “He gave me little pointers before my debut.”
Davies also credited advice from veteran Sydney Sixers spinner Steve O’Keefe, who gave him some handy tips ahead of the Bangladesh tour.
“I guess coming through early doors with the Sixers, I played a couple of games alongside Steve O’Keefe,” Davies says. “We’re very similar sort of bowlers, he’s not a big spinner of the ball and neither am I. So it’s those subtle changes to deceive the batter. And yeah, just ideally try to bowl lots of dot balls and then get the batter to play a shot that they’re not planning on doing. Because we’ve built up a lot of pressure.
“I spoke to Steve O’Keefe even before I debuted in Bangladesh and he gave me a few little pointers which worked quite nicely for me. But yeah, to learn alongside him is unreal. Even with it being the back-end of his career, he still was obviously such a good player and so highly skilled and well regarded.”
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