Neil Evans - tomorrow’s another day
UTS North Sydney District Cricket Club | November 18, 2023
Neil Evans became UTS North Sydney first grade cap number 508 when he made his first grade debut against Petersham Marrickville back in 1987/88.
Neil is a well-known sports media presenter having worked for Fox Sports, Radio 2GB, Centrebet and is now primarily involved in Horse Racing.
An avid all-rounder sports fan, Neil loves the masterful art of cricket, especially when the players are in whites.
Let’s find out about Neil’s journey in the game
What year you were born?
January 1965
Can you remember you first game of cricket?
Vaguely, as a 7 year old when I lived for 2 years in Inverell in Northern NSW.. From memory we won very easy, but I don’t think the opposition was much chop.
Tell us briefly about your cricketing journey?
Really started properly when I went to Canberra aged 11, junior cricket was strong with Weston Creek, and I was lucky enough to be playing first grade in the ACT by my 15th birthday. Then for the ACT, then went to Bathurst 1983-84 and played for Western Division and NSW Country before coming to Sydney in 1985 joining North Sydney and played 11 seasons there. 1st grade primarily from around 1987 to 1994, including a minor country stint in the UK in 1989. I knocked back an offer from Waverly in 1991, although did join Randwick at one stage in 1992, but returned before that season started, so in the end I was a North Sydney Bear all the way.
In which grade and at what age did you make your debut in grade cricket?
In Canberra I made my 3rd grade debut at 13, and was playing 1st grade at 15. With North Sydney, I played a lot of second grade aged 19 to 22 before debuting in first grade 1987/88 season, nearly 23.
At what age did you make your first grade debut in grade cricket and can you remember how you performed in debut?
As I say, 1st grade in Canberra I was 15 - the youngest player in ACT cricket history to do so - I was going to the Aust Under 16 titles as well so all very exciting at the time before I made a duck on 1st grade debut, and crawled off. How could I forget it?
With North Sydney, it was away to Petersham batting 7 in a strong team. I made an inauspicious 12 not out down the order, but remember it more for the classic sledging I copped from great Petersham names like Brian Riley and co.
If you can share with our audience, how would you describe yourself as a cricketer?
I was always a batsman. In younger days primarily at No 3 or 4, and in second grade & Poidevin Gray teams at North Sydney were generally around No 5, but when I went to 1st grade, the chance was there for me to open the batting and I had to take that. I was never really a pure opener, but enjoyed the new ball challenges. For a good six season, it was either opening or occasional at number 3, until I dropped down the order around that 93/94 time when things started to go astray. I kept wickets a lot too, more so in junior representative cricket, but kept a bit for Norths 2nds.
SMH - 19 November 1989
What were your strengths as a player?
I guess if you asked others, they would probably say timing, flare and shot-making, but regardless of whether I thought I was batting well, I could never put two really big seasons back-to-back which is what you have to do at least in Sydney 1st grade if you are making the next big step. I remember one season I had 3 centuries by Xmas, and everything was rolling, the next season feeling as though I was seeing and hitting them as good as ever, I couldn’t get past 30! Shot strengths were definitely from cover right around to square leg. I loved that arc from the bowler through mid-wicket and square leg, and also loved tactical battles with good spinners. I liked to cut, but I was never a good puller or hooker, and some quicks worked that extra pretty sharply.
What was your highest score in senior cricket?
Highest 1st grade score for North Sydney was 133 v Randwick 1989/90
Highest club score for North Sydney was 185 v UNSW 1988/89
What were your best bowling figures in senior cricket?
This won’t take long. I think I got 2 for 20 odd in 2nd grade game for Norths bowling medium pace, but really if I was having a bowl, we were generally out of ideas, or so far in front it didn’t matter!
Who were the best three fast bowlers you have played against?
In Sydney 1st grade, no doubt Glen McGrath in his earlier days from 1989-92. He had that deceptive pace, throat-like bounce and gave you very little. I can promise you Pigeon put on 5 yards of pace in the space of just 2 seasons, and you saw what he did on that 93 Ashes tour. Mind you I nearly clobbered McGrath for 6 one day at Caringbah, straight off the shoulder edge of the bat, over 2nd-slip who was back 30 yards and hit a long boundary fence on the full. Other fine 1st grade bowlers in my time were Darby Quoyle (Syd Uni), Ron Davis (Fairfield), and Richard Stobo (Gordon)
Craig McDermott at the Under 19’s was a fearsome battle because he was fast and mean.
In the UK, no question the late Malcolm Marshall when he was playing for Hampshire. It was a NatWest match for Cheshire, and we were sent in on an awful wicket. I’ve never been so happy to see the heavens open and the rain tumble down. Marshall was what I called a “corridor” combination or silk and power. That controlled turbo action where he could generate pace and movement through pure rhythm.
A young Glenn McGrath
Who were the best three spinners you have played against?
Tom Shiner (Campbelltown) was always a challenge, variety was there, and you never quite knew when he was producing that well disguised faster ball..
Graeme Beard (Penrith/Waverley) I always thought he was a very under-rated spinner. Of course he bowled medium pace as well, but when he was bowling off-spin he had great control and subtle changes of flight.
Steve Whitfield (Manly/ND’s) was a classic left arm orthodox who gave virtually nothing away. You had to judge the length quickly, and use your feet because he hit a spot and always bowled to his field.
Graeme Beard
Who were the best 3 batsman you’ve played against?
So many, but Mark Waugh in full flight for Bankstown was always something, although I don’t remember Junior ever cashing in much against Norths.
Talent-wise, I’ll never forget Michael Bevan’s first game in Sydney for Campbelltown in the 1990/91 season. We had them in Round 1, and on a really good wicket he made the most majestic 70 and we only got rid of him when someone threw the stumps down from side-on. I remember that day, the way Bevo was playing, he would have made 400!
Randall Green (Northern District) was a terrific stroke-maker and supreme hitter of the ball. He set up so many wins for that club batting at 3!
Michael Bevan
Who played the best innings you’ve seen firsthand playing with or against?
My very close team-mate Graham Spring played one of the best knocks I’ve ever seen making 165 against St George at Hurstville. Not only did he barely miss the middle of the bat all day, he did it on about 1 hours sleep. Of course, he’s always talked about as an all-round player who should have gone right to the very top, but having batted so much with him, he was “The Natural”
Was there any bowler in particular who whatever reason always you to cause you a few problems?
Yes, Richard Stobo. Don’t know what it was. Maybe I was too anxious opening against him because he always mixed it up, changing his pace, bowling slower cutters, and swinging the ball away occasionally. I played him a lot and can’t remember getting a decent score against him. He even knocked me over first ball of the match in the 1991/92 season.
Richard Stobo
Can you recall a time when you thought, wow, this is a step or two up from what you were used to in grade cricket and you really had to knuckle down to survive?
Not really, you always knew what was coming, and conditions played a big part. In my time, you would often see Test players come back to 1st grade and struggle, not because they weren’t fine players, but the wickets were so much tougher and variable than the decks that were used to at the top. I still believe that era from the mid-80s to the mid-90s was the strongest around. Players wanted to score a century or take six wickets for their club just as much as they did when playing for Australia. You would never see that now. The biggest difference stepping up was really the relentless pressure - verbal or tactical - even when we had to bowl 110 overs in a day; something you wouldn’t see much of in lower grades.
Who was the best wicket keeper you’ve seen firsthand playing with or against?
Obviously Adam Gilchrist was the all-round match-winning package, dominated by his batting power, but Steve Rixon was very hard to top for a pure gloveman, especially up to the stumps.
Steve Rixon
Who are the two players you admired most in terms of skills and competitive spirit in the competitions you played?
Skill-wise Graham Spring again. He may not outwardly have been the most committed, but there were very few players who genuinely were capable of regularly making a century and taking six wickets in the same match.
Competitively, I was a great fan of Steve Smith (the older one) for Bankstown. Such a stylish all-round player, good shot-maker and accumulator of runs, tigerish competitor who never seemed to lose his focus, and one of the most outstanding fieldsman up to that 40 yard radius.
Who was the best captain you had the good fortune to play with?
Mark England I liked playing under. He was one of those skippers who took in all aspects from his senior team-mates, and was just cool under any sort of pressure.
Who has been your funniest team mate?
There’s been a heap of them, but with fast bowler Warren ‘Cec” Pepper absolutely anything could happen!
Can you recall some banter or an exchange on the cricket field that still makes you laugh today?
There’s been plenty, but when my skipper at Nth Sydney Trevor Chappell bowled a full over of “sky” balls - that is he hurled them 100 metres straight up into the air - and then asked Steve Small at Bankstown to “try and hit them,” fair to say we couldn’t get out of Memorial Oval that day quick enough.
What was your most embarrassing dismissal in senior cricket?
That 1st ball of the day from Stobo, just a loosener, and I tried to cut it square, hit the under edge, went straight down on to my boot, got tangled up and agonisingly trickled backwards and dislodged one bail! The other, a run-out mix-up when I thought I was easily home, stopped in the middle to encourage my partner to sprint and make it to the other end, which he did; only for the ball to be hurled down my end where I was run out by 3 yards!
Who was your childhood hero?
Ian Chappell, still the prototype Aussie cricketer. Away from cricket, Sebastian Coe, Brett Kenny and Johann Neeskens
Ian Chappell
Who are the three sports people in the world you’d most like to meet?
Rocky Marciano (what a boxer); Graeme Pollock (what a batsman) and Hichem El Guerrouj (what a runner)
Hichem El Guerroui
Who’s your favourite cricket commentator?
Given today, they are all rubbish; I have to go back to the incompatible Henry Blofeld
What was your favourite ground to play at?
No doubt, North Sydney Oval
What there a particular team you especially looked forward to playing against?
Yes, Randwick, I always seemed to fire against the Wicks. I was over in England at the same time as a few of them, and we were always good mates on and off the field.
What’s been your most memorable moment in cricket?
Hard to say. First 1st Grade appearance in Canberra at just 15 was very special; the first 1st grade century for North Sydney was wonderful; but for all-round memory, when we won, Norths still only, Poidevin-Gray title in 1985, my first year in Sydney, was a very special day. We had a strong and consistent top 5 batting line-up; and a good fielding team, but we did it with a 3rd grade and 4th grade opening bowler. In context that was one of the Bears’ greatest ever titles, even though it was Under 21!
What’s the best win you’ve been involved with?
That Poidevin-Gray win for sure, and a 1st grade match against Manly when they made 380 on a flat one at North Sydney Oval and we chased it down with 40 mins to spare!
Who are the three players from your playing days at the top of the list for a Saturday afternoon barbeque?
Only 3. Graham Spring, George Roberts, Scott Hookey. There’s a lot of wayward personality there!
What are your hobbies?
Pretty much all racing these days, After the media and television careers, I spent many great years at the height of the corporate bookmakers; and now I’m a full-time professional form analyst and tipster. It’s all about the track now.
What’s the best advice you’ve received?
Tomorrow’s another day!
What is your occupation?
Technically I work for myself, but Racing NSW and several race clubs around the state are now my employers
Are you still involved in cricket and if so, in what capacity?
No I’m not. I desperately wanted to coach for a while after I stopped playing. I always love the tactical and psychological challenge of any contest; but sadly I’ve lost a lot of faith in the great game and the way it's administered and sold today.
If you were running Cricket NSW what would be your 2 priorities to ensure cricket in the state remained strong and successful on and off the field?
Drag the mind-set back to four and five-day cricket. I will never surrender to this line that the world is only interested in five minute hit-and-giggle stuff. Yes social choices and distractions and alternatives have changed dramatically, but cricket was always the most masterful battle of mental endurance, and chess-like moves. Somehow Test matches series must be protected. I would have a pure six-week “window” for 20/20 and limited overs action. The rest should be dedicated to the red ball in all whites!
