Alex Davies would love to taste the "amazing atmosphere" of Vitality Blast Finals Day again - this time with Edgbaston as his home ground.
The Bears’ winter signing from Lancashire is an exciting addition to the squad with his explosive batting at the top of the order. He will be an integral part of their planning for the Blast campaign which starts against Northants Steelbacks at Edgbaston on Thursday 26 May.
With West Indies ace Carlos Brathwaite as skipper and Irish batting powerhouse Paul Stirling on board, that campaign will start with the Bears’ intention very much to be back at Edgbaston for Finals Day on Saturday 16 July.
And Davies knows, as much as anyone, what an incentive there is to be one of the four competing teams in the tournament’s finale. When the Lightning lifted the trophy in 2015, he was man of the match in the final.
“That was a fantastic day for me and my family,” said the 27-year-old. “It was Lancashire’s first white ball trophy for a few years and it is always a really special day for me and my family to get to Finals Day.
“Edgbaston is always a great place to play but it is just an amazing atmosphere on Finals Day and a great day out for the supporters. Now I am lucky enough to have it as a home ground so if we can get there I will have all the Bears fans behind me and I won’t have to travel far!”
The Bears have realistic hopes of making it to Finals Day this year having reached the quarter-finals last year before falling to Kent at Canterbury. The arrival of Davies and Stirling has souped up the top-order batting power while the likes of younger guns Rob Yates, Dan Mousley and Jake Bethell are ready to fully fledge on the T20 stage.
“This squad has a lot of potential in white-ball cricket that maybe it hasn’t fulfilled as yet,” said Davies. “Hopefully I can come in and help and Stirlo is a brilliant signing, his talent speaks for itself. I think the Hundred draft also says a lot about how good this squad is with ten lads picked up. That shows how strong our white-ball cricket is and hopefully it will be really exciting for the Bears fans to watch this year.”
