Brian Fettes Davison (born 21 December 1946) is a former cricketer who played 467 first-class matches for

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

and

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

, and former member of the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Tasmanian Legislative Council, Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House, Hobart, Parliament Hou ...

. Described as "an aggressive, fast-scoring right-handed batsman", Davison was also a useful right-arm medium-pace bowler and an outstanding fielder who captained Rhodesia in 25 matches.

Early life

Born in

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; ) is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council claimed it to be about ...

in what was then

, Davison attended Gifford Technical High School in Bulawayo, where his sporting skills were first evident (he also represented Rhodesia in

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

). Davison made his first-class debut for Rhodesia on 25 November 1967, against Natal B in

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

, scoring 47. Davison soon attracted the attention of English county club

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

, playing for their Second XI in 1969 before switching to rival club Leicestershire in 1970.

First-class cricket career

Through the 1970s, Davison played for Leicestershire and Rhodesia, serving as captain of both, won the 1971 Walter Lawrence Trophy for a 63-minute century, named the ''South African Cricket Annual'' Cricketer of the Year in 1973 and led Rhodesia to their first major South African trophy, scoring an unbeaten 102 at the 1977/78 Datsun Shield final. With Leicestershire, Davison won the County Championship in 1975, the John Player League twice and the Benson & Hedges Cup twice. Davison was enticed to captain

in 1979/80 and transferred from Leicestershire to rival county side Gloucestershire for the 1985 season. His leadership of a Tasmanian team newly inducted into the

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams representing the six states of Australia. The Sheffield Shield is named after Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl of Sheffield, Lor ...

proved crucial to an inexperienced side and he continued to alternate between Leicestershire and Tasmania until his retirement from first-class cricket at the conclusion of the 1987/88 Australian domestic season. Davison scored 27,453 first-class runs, with 53 centuries, which remained the most by any Rhodesian or Zimbabwean until surpassed by

Graeme Hick Graeme Ashley Hick (born 23 May 1966) is a Zimbabwean-born former England cricketer who played 65 Test matches and 120 One Day Internationals for England. He was born in Rhodesia, and as a young man played international cricket for Zimbabwe. H ...

. 37 of his centuries were for Leicestershire, the second most by any Leicestershire player, while his 18,537 runs for Leicestershire puts him ninth of their all-time highest run-scorer list. Davison was also a successful one day player, making 8343

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...

runs, including 6744 for Leicestershire (bettered by only four other Leicestershire players). This included an unbeaten 158 in 1972, which remained the highest List A score for the county until 1996, and at the time the highest score for any one day competition in the world. Davison was one of ten members of Leicestershire's first County Championship winning team in 1975 to have a road in Leicester named after him by the city council.

Chris Balderstone John Christopher Balderstone (16 November 1940 – 6 March 2000) was an English professional in cricket and football, and one of the last sportsmen to combine both sports over a prolonged period. He played football as a midfielder for Huddersfie ...

, Peter Booth, Barry Dudleston, Ken Higgs, David Humphries,

Ray Illingworth Raymond Illingworth Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (8 June 1932 – 25 December 2021) was an English cricketer, cricket commentator and administrator. , he was one of only nine players to have taken 2,000 wickets and made 20, ...

, Norman McVicker, John Steele and Roger Tolchard were the others.

Jack Birkenshaw Jack Birkenshaw, (born 13 November 1940) is a former English cricketer, who later stood as an umpire and worked as a coach. Cricket writer Colin Bateman stated, "Jack Birkenshaw was the epitome of a good all-round county cricketer: a probing ...

Graham McKenzie Graham Douglas McKenzie (born 24 June 1941) – commonly known as "Garth", after the comic strip hero – is an Australian cricketer who played for Western Australia (1960–74), Leicestershire (1969–75), Transvaal (1979–80) and Australi ...

and Mick Norman missed out as there were already roads using their surnames.

Later life

Following his retirement from cricket, Davison remained in

and was elected as a Liberal representative to the

Division of Franklin The Division of Franklin is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian electoral division in Tasmania. The division is the southernmost in Australia, located in southern Tasmania around the state capital, Hobart. It i ...

in 1990, where he served until his defeat at the 1996 election. A keen golfer, he is a member of the Iron Pot Golf Club

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Davison, Brian 1946 births Living people Cricketers from Bulawayo Zimbabwean cricketers Tasmania cricketers Leicestershire cricketers Leicestershire cricket captains Gloucestershire cricketers Australian expatriate cricketers in England Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Tasmania Rhodesia cricketers Australian sportsperson-politicians Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly T. N. Pearce's XI cricketers Zimbabwean emigrants to Australia

Early life

First-class cricket career

Later life

See also

References

External links