Percy Vere Davis (4 April 1922 – 28 November 2018), known in later life as Philip Davis, was an English aviator and

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er. He was born in

Forest Hill Forest Hill or Forrest Hill may refer to: Places Australia * Forest Hill, New South Wales, a suburb of Wagga Wagga * Forrest Hill, New South Wales, a suburb of Albury * Forest Hill, Queensland * Forest Hill, Victoria ** Forest Hill Chase Sh ...

in Lewisham, south-east London in 1922.Percy Davis

CricInfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...

. Retrieved 2017-05-19. Davis joined the staff at

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ke ...

in 1938, having been successful in a trial the previous year. He made his Second XI debut against Surrey Second XI before playing the whole of the 1939 season, mainly as an opening batsman. He scored 512 runs during 1939, a total only beaten by Godfrey Evans who went on to play 91 times for England.Deaths in 2018, ''Kent County Cricket Club Annual 2019'', p.192. Canterbury:

. During World War II Davis served in the Royal Air Force (RAF), reaching the rank of

Flight Lieutenant Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth countries. It has a NATO rank code of OF-2. Flight lieutenant is abbreviated as Flt Lt in the India ...

. He served mainly in the Middle East and in Italy. After VE Day he played as part of a Desert Air Force cricket team in a series of matches in England, scoring a century against a side from

RAF Bomber Command RAF Bomber Command controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. Along with the United States Army Air Forces, it played the central role in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. From 1942 onward, the British bo ...

at Trent Bridge. Davis opted to remain in the RAF after the war, but returned to Kent whilst on leave in 1946, making his first-class cricket debut for the side in May 1946 in a County Championship match against Derbyshire at

Queen's Park, Chesterfield Queen's Park is a county cricket ground located in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England and lies within a park in the centre of the town established for Queen Victoria's golden jubilee in 1887. It has a small pavilion and is surrounded by mature ...

. He played a total of ten first-class matches during the 1946 season, six for Kent and four for Combined Services. Davis was a right-handed batsman whom Kent were willing to re-engage as a professional if he had opted to do so. He scored a total of 276 first-class runs including one century, scoring 136 for Combined Services against Oxford University.Percy Davis
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2017-05-19. Davis' last first-class match was for Kent against Somerset in August 1946 at the St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury. He also made two appearances for Kent's Second XI during the 1946 season. After remaining in the RAF until 1955, Davis worked in the civil aviation industry, primarily for British Caledonian. As well as cricket he played golf. He died at High Bickington in Devon in November 2018 aged 96.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Percy 1922 births 2018 deaths English cricketers Kent cricketers Combined Services cricketers Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Air Force officers People from Forest Hill, London Cricketers from the London Borough of Lewisham