Oval sunshine may soon depart for Davies

Surrey 354 for 6 (Burns 88, Sangakkara 67, Davies 59, Sibley 56) lead Lancashire 287 (Clark 56, S Curran 4-61) by 83 runsScorecard

Where Steven Davies plays his cricket next season is unknown. He is out of contract at Surrey, and, retaining England ambitions, wants to regain the gloves. Thanks to the emergence of Ben Foakes, he will not get to do that at Surrey anytime soon, but several counties, including Somerset, would give much for a keeper of his batting prowess.

On this sweltering day at The Oval – much of a hearty crowd spent the day moving to avoid the sun, inverting a county cricket tradition of fans congregating under any rays of sunshine, real or imaged – Surrey had cause to thank that, for now, Davies remains all theirs.

His pristine late cut, gliding the ball precisely through backward point, must register as one of the most delightful shots in the county game. A threaded drive through point off Simon Kerrigan, in between two men placed to stop just such a shot was followed, in the next over, by a sumptuous flick through midwicket off Arron Lilley; the outcome of both deliveries belied a lack of discernible effort from the batsman as they raced across the boundary. Each was a triumph of timing and grace over power.

It …

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