David Gwilym Lloyd Evans (27 July 1933 – 25 March 1990) was a

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who played as a wicketkeeper for

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

from 1956 to 1969 and then became a first-class

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French , , and , : (as evidenced in cricke ...

in 1971, standing in nine

Tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

from 1981 to 1985.

Cricketer

Born at

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger) London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charin ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, but brought up in West Wales, Evans joined Glamorgan in the mid-1950s and became first-choice wicketkeeper after the retirement of Haydn Davies at the end of the 1958 season. For several seasons at the start of the 1960s, he was at or near the top of the wicketkeeping lists of dismissals with 79, 82 and then 89 dismissals in the seasons from 1961 to 1963. The 89 dismissals in 1963 set a new county record for Glamorgan, though it has since been surpassed by

Eifion Jones __NOTOC__ William Eifion Jones (1925 – March 2004) was a Welsh marine botanist, noted for his study of marine algae. He was born and brought up in Aberystwyth and studied botany at the University of Wales under Professor Lilly Newton. He ...

, and made Evans the leading wicketkeeper of the year. As a right-handed batsman, he was very much a tail-ender, though in a county side that had more than its fair share of rabbits, with Don Shepherd, Jeff Jones and Ossie Wheatley in the team, he often batted higher than he might have done in other sides. He did not, though, pass 50 in any first-class innings. Injured for part of the 1964 season, Evans was replaced by

, but regained his place for three more seasons. Jones' better batting, though, saw him displace Evans as first choice from 1968, and though Evans was granted a benefit in 1969, he left first-class cricket at the end of the season.

Umpire

Evans had already shown interest in coaching and umpiring while a first-class cricketer. In the 1967-68 off-season, he travelled to Australia on a

Winston Churchill Fellowship Winston Churchill Memorial Trusts (WCMT) are three independent but related living memorials to Sir Winston Churchill, based in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. They exist for the purpose of administering Churchill Fellowships, a ...

to study coaching methods. After his retirement in 1969, he returned to first-class cricket very quickly, qualifying as an umpire and being appointed to the first-class list for the 1971 English cricket season. In 1981, he graduated to the Test panel, and umpired his first Test in the dramatic match between

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and

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when

Ian Botham Ian Terence Botham, Baron Botham (born 24 November 1955) is an English cricket commentator, member of the House of Lords, a former cricketer who has been chairman of Durham County Cricket Club since 2017 and charity fundraiser. Hailed as one of ...

's 149 and

Bob Willis Robert George Dylan Willis (born 30 May 1949 – 4 December 2019) was an English cricketer, who represented England between 1971 and 1984. A right-handed fast bowler, Willis is regarded by many as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all tim ...

's eight for 43 won a match that had seemed lost. Later matches included England games against

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and

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, and he was one of the umpires for the first Test played by

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in England in 1984. Shortly after standing in the

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Test in the 1985

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series, Evans was taken ill and in September 1985 he underwent heart surgery. He returned to the first-class umpires list in 1986 for a further four seasons with a slightly diminished schedule, and did not stand in any further Tests. He had been reappointed to the umpires' panel for the 1990 season, but died at Cwmpengraig,

Drefach Drefach is a small village in the community of Llanwenog, Ceredigion, Wales.Ceredigion County ...

Llandysul Llandysul, also spelt Llandyssul, is a town and Community (Wales), community in the county of Ceredigion, Wales. As a community it consists of the townships of Capel Dewi, Llandysul, Capel Dewi, Horeb, Pontsian, Pren-gwyn, Tregroes, Rhydowen and ...

Dyfed Dyfed () is a preserved county in southwestern Wales, covering the modern counties Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire. It is mostly rural area with a coastline on the Irish Sea and the Bristol Channel. Between 1974 and 1996, Dyfed w ...

, before it began.

Name and birthplace

Evans' second name was not used at all during his playing career, where he was referred to as "D. L. Evans". In various places it is spelled "Gwilym" (www.cricketarchive.com, www.cricinfo.com), "Gwillim" (The Cricketers' Who's Who) and "Gwilliam" (obituary in

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

, 1990). As a player, his birthplace was given in Wisden as

Ammanford Ammanford ( ) is a town and community (Wales), community in Carmarthenshire, Wales. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census the community had a population of 5,445, and the wider built up area had a population of 8,285. Ammanford is se ...

, where he was brought up.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, David 1933 births 1990 deaths Welsh cricketers People from Lambeth Cricketers from the London Borough of Lambeth Glamorgan cricketers International Cavaliers cricketers Welsh cricket umpires English Test cricket umpires English One Day International cricket umpires Wicket-keepers