Youth and early career

Educated at King Charles I School, Davies began his career playing for Worcestershire in 2001, playing a number of games in second eleven cricket and in the ECB 38-County Cup, and played one C&G Trophy match in each of the following two seasons. In February and March 2004 he appeared for England Under-19s in the Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh, averaging 55.25 from six innings.

Worcestershire

In 2004 he made his senior Worcestershire debut, in a one-day game against Sri Lanka A. He also played for the England Under-19s in the home series against Bangladesh, and captained the side on tour in India throughout the series of three "Tests" and five "One-Day Internationals". In 2004, too, Davies was awarded the NBC Denis Compton Award.

Davies made his first-class debut against Loughborough UCCE in April 2005, making 6 and 37 as his county succumbed to an unimpressive eight-wicket defeat. An unsuccessful totesport League match against Nottinghamshire followed a few days later, but nevertheless he opened the batting for Worcestershire in County Championship games against Somerset and Durham.

A run of poor scores (4, 1, 1 and 0) put the pressure on Davies, and despite an effort of 49 in the second innings against Leicestershire he was again relegated to the second XI in mid-June, and he failed to make a significant impact in the Under-19 series against Sri Lanka. Recalled to the Worcestershire first team, however, he grasped the opportunity with both hands, making 59, 5, 95, 37 and 148 in successive Championship innings. Originally playing as a specialist opening batsman, he moved down the order and took over duties behind the stumps from Jamie Pipe midway through 2005.

After his first call up to the England A squad, Davies scored 192, to date his highest first-class score, against Gloucestershire in June 2006, sharing a partnership worth 345 runs with Vikram Solanki (who scored 222), and also taking five first-innings catches.

Towards the end of the 2008 domestic season, Davies hit an outstanding run of form in the 40-over Natwest League, in which he both kept wicket and opened the batting; his scores in August were 16 off 18 balls, 103 not out off 100, 59 off 53, 92 off 93, and 119 off 87 (the 103* and 119 being his first two limited overs centuries). This excellent run of form resulted in his inclusion in the England ODI squad for the 2009 tour of West Indies.

Surrey

On 25 August 2009, it was announced that Davies would move from Worcestershire at the end of the season. He signed a three-year contract with Surrey. Three months later, wicket-keeper Jon Batty who had been a part of the club since 1997 left, leaving Davies as the main 'keeper with Gary Wilson as back up. Early in the 2014 season, Davies gave up wicket-keeping to concentrate on batting. It was originally a temporary measure but he did not keep wicket for 2 years. In April 2016, Davies stated his desire to resume wicketkeeping in an effort to increase his chances of a recall to the England team. During the 2016 season, Davies kept in 3 matches when Surrey's regular keeper, Ben Foakes, was unable or not playing. His time as a batsman proved successful, scoring over 1000 runs in both 2014 and 2016.

Somerset

On 14 September 2016, Surrey announced that Davies had turned down a new contract so would leave the club at the end of the season. Davies then signed a three-year deal with Somerset, with the aim of returning to both wicket-keeping and international cricket.

On 19 September 2005 Davies was named in the 17-man ECB National Academy squad. In March 2006, he was called up to the England A squad to replace Chris Read, who had returned