The Godfrey Evans Collection
One of the greatest wicket-keepers every to have played the game.
To many, Godfrey Evans is one of the greatest wicket-keepers every to have played the game.
He first appeared for Kent in 1939 and took up the gloves after the war when Les Ames gave up the post. In between making 91 Test Match appearances for England, he would go on to represent Kent in 258 matches until 1967 when he reappeared for one match due to the absence of Alan Knott (though he had retired from regular cricket at the end of the 1959 season).
Evans was more athletic behind the stumps that all of his predecessors, willing to dive left or right to attempt a catch that few others would have considered. He also preferred to stand up to the wicket against all but the fastest of bowlers which enabled him to pull of the occasional stumping that would have eluded him had be stood back. When he finished Test Cricket, he had claimed 219 victims behind the stumps (173 caught, 46 stumped) and his Kent career ended with his tally at 451 catches and 103 stumpings.
With the bat, Evans often entertained with some big hitting in all forms of cricket, county or Test Matches. There is no doubt that he had a good technique for, in 1952, he asked to bat higher in the order and scored over 1,000 runs in the season for the only time. He finished his career with 9,325 runs for Kent, with four centuries. For England, he scored 2,439 runs in 91 matches, including two centuries.
The collection at Canterbury includes many items that tell Godfrey’s story. These include a presentation cigar box from the New South Wales Cricket Association to family photograph albums with images from his military service, cricketing tours of Australia and family snapshots. In addition, we have several scrapbooks of newspaper cuttings from his career which were compiled by his admirers.
