Biography
Born in Canada to Australian teachers on a one-year teaching exchange, Davison moved to Australia and attended school at St Ignatius' College, Riverview where he was a member of the 1st XI before playing grade cricket in Melbourne and attending the Australian Cricket Academy in 1993. He was a member of the Victoria state squad for a number of years but was unable to hold down a regular place in the side.
In 1999, Davison agreed to spend the Australian winters in Canada as a club player and coach. He quickly became involved with the Canadian national team, representing them in the 2001 ICC Trophy where Canada performed well to qualify for the 2003 Cricket World Cup in South Africa and Zimbabwe.
At the World Cup, Davison made an overnight name for himself (see 2003 World Cup section below), stunning the strong West Indies team with an aggressive innings of 111 (reaching 100 from 67 balls, then the quickest century in World Cup history, and the first One Day International century for Canada), before making a half-century against New Zealand at the incredible strike rate of 200.
After his successes for the modest Canadian team at the World Cup, Davison returned to Australia and continued playing for South Australia, where he had played since 2002 after being released by Victoria.
Continuing his form for Canada, Davison returned to the national lineup for the 2004 ICC Intercontinental Cup, and was named as captain. He was in inspirational form as Canada overcame rivals USA, top-scoring with 84 in Canada's first innings and taking match figures of 17 for 137 (8 for 61 and 9 for 76), the best first-class match figures anywhere in the world since Jim Laker's 19 for 90 during the 1956 Ashes.
His form at international level did not help in Australia though as in January 2005, Davison was dropped from the South Australia state squad. He continued to play cricket in Australia at a lower level during the Australian summer. In the 2006-07 season, he played for Mosman in Sydney Grade Cricket and has recently been appointed as a development coach with the Australian Cricket Academy.
Davison has continued to represent Canada internationally as captain of the team, and against Bermuda in 2006 he scored his only first-class century, 165 from 175 balls.
Retained as captain of Canada for the 2007 Cricket World Cup, Davison reached 50 against New Zealand from only 25 balls and nearly won them that match.
Read more about this topic: John Davison (cricketer)
Famous quotes containing the word biography:
“Had Dr. Johnson written his own life, in conformity with the opinion which he has given, that every man’s life may be best written by himself; had he employed in the preservation of his own history, that clearness of narration and elegance of language in which he has embalmed so many eminent persons, the world would probably have had the most perfect example of biography that was ever exhibited.”
—James Boswell (1740–95)
“In how few words, for instance, the Greeks would have told the story of Abelard and Heloise, making but a sentence of our classical dictionary.... We moderns, on the other hand, collect only the raw materials of biography and history, “memoirs to serve for a history,” which is but materials to serve for a mythology.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A biography is like a handshake down the years, that can become an arm-wrestle.”
—Richard Holmes (b. 1945)