Even at 36 Evans’ energy did not seem to wane. He toured South Africa, scored 62 in the Newlands Test — his first fifty since 1952 — out of a 93-run partnership with Cowdrey. He followed it up with five catches. When on four he reached 2,000 and became the second wicket-keeper after Ames to reach the milestone. He bettered this at St George’s Park: it was a treacherous pitch that attracted a lot of controversy. Runs were scored at 1.40 per six balls — which is an all-time low. Wicket-keeping was nightmarish on such a pitch, but Evans reigned supreme with six catches and conceding a single bye. Wisden called it “an extraordinary performance by an extraordinary man.” Evans took 18 catches and two stumpings in this series, and the 20 dismissals remained his career-best. In the second Test against West Indies at Lord’s, Evans put up an extraordinary partnership with Cowdrey. After West Indies scored 127 Evans joined Cowdrey at 192 for six. Evans scored 82, and the two added 171 in 115 minutes: this was a new seventh-wicket record for England, surpassing the 143 between Frank Woolley and Joseph Vine at Sydney in 1911-12. It still remains the second-highest, next to only Mike Smith and Jim Parks’ 197 at Port-of-Spain in 1959-60. In the fourth Test at Headingley, he caught Collie Smith off Don Smith to become the first player to reach 200 dismissals in Tests. He did not concede a bye in that Test, and finished the series with 201 runs at 50.25 and 15 dismissals. The end came swiftly after two poor series against New Zealand and Australia. Evans scored 55 runs at 5.00 from eight Tests and had only 13 victims to his name. However, the Test at The Oval against New Zealand was his 86th, which took him past Hammond’s world record. Despite his failures he was retained for the home series against India. Things seemed to be back to normal when Evans scored a breezy 73-ball 73 at Trent Bridge. In the next Test at Lord’s Evans scored a duck, and missed three stumpings off Tommy Greenhough’s leg-breaks in the space of 15 minutes. Though he did not concede a single bye in the 941 balls he kept wickets to in that Test he was dropped “in the interests of team-building” as per the selectors. He retired from First-Class cricket that season. Evans played sporadically thereafter, playing a single match in each of his last eight seasons. He eventually made an India trip for a charity match at Bombay. Even at 43 he was at his best, scoring 36 and 17 not out and effecting five dismissals for Indian Prime Minister’s XI. With Alan Knott playing for England Evans made a surprise comeback for Kent against Yorkshire at Canterbury at the age of 47. As per Wisden he kept wickets ‘superbly’ in that match as well. In 1976, he played a seven-a-side match at The Oval. Mike Selvey, who was bowling to him, later wrote: “My experience was an education. Late out-swing just whispered into his [Evans’] gloves. I slipped in a full-length in-swinger on leg stump — the most difficult to take – and there he was, down the leg side as if by telepathy, flicking the bails away as the batsman changed feet.” He was 56 then.
Posted on: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 12:42:08 +0000
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