Godfrey Evans

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Godfrey Evans England (ENG)

Batting style	Right-hand bat
Bowling type	Legbreak
	Tests	First-class
Matches	91	465
Runs scored	2439	14882
Batting average	20.49	21.22
100s/50s	2/8	7/62
Top score	104	144
Balls bowled	-	286
Wickets	-	2
Bowling average	-	122.50
5 wickets in innings	-	-
10 wickets in match	-	-
Best bowling	-	2/50
Catches/stumpings	173/46	816/250
Test debut: 17 August 1946 Last Test: 18 June 1959 Source: [1]

Thomas Godfrey Evans CBE (August 18, 1920 – May 3, 1999) was an English cricketer who played for Kent and England.

Described by Wisden as 'arguably the best wicket-keeper the game has ever seen', Evans collected 219 dismissals in 91 Test match appearances between 1946 and 1959 and a further 1066 in first-class matches for Kent. En route he was the first wicket keeper to reach 200 Test dismissals, the first Englishman to reach 1000 runs and 100 dismissals in first-class cricket, the first Englishman to reach 2000 runs and 200 dismissals, and the Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1951.

After his retirement from professional cricket Evans became a cricket expert for bookmakers Ladbrokes, famously offering odds of 500 to 1 on an England victory against Australia at Headingley in 1981, the match in which Ian Botham and Bob Willis fought back from following-on at 227 runs behind to achieve a memorably improbable victory.