Nowra Cricket Club is mourning the death on September 13 of life member Robert Redvers Evison, 83, who rates highly on the list of the greatest players in the club's long history.
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He is also among the association's most prolific allrounders, alongside his father Redvers (Ref) whose name he carried.
Known as Robert in some circles, he was usually Bob on the local cricket fields that he graced with distinction for close to 40 years.
He was also commonly referred to with affection as "Curly".
When he started there were no junior competitions, and his earliest games were with Cambewarra seconds.
However his potential was noticed by the association selectors who chose him in under 17 representative teams.
During his third season in that age group (1950-51), he took 3/3 and 4/3 in a match against Moss Vale.
The following year saw him one of the youngest in the Colts (under 21) side.
Still playing with Cambewarra seconds, his 47 was top score of the grand final against Meroo and he shared his first premiership with three Evison cousins.
At the age of 16 Bob made his first grade debut against Nowra in 1952-53, and captured 4/23, but batting quickly his strong point.
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In 1953-54 he hit an unbeaten 56 in the first round against Nowra, and finished the summer with 292 runs.
Completing his formal education at Hawkesbury Agricultural College, Bob missed almost two seasons of Shoalhaven cricket.
By the time he returned, Cambewarra had dropped out of first grade and he joined Nowra, announcing his arrival with a spell of 6/32 against Pyree.
He would become a regular in Nowra first grade sides for the next 30 seasons, where his achievements were outstanding.
While principally a right-arm pace bowler with the ability to swing the ball either way, he was also a hard-hitting left-hand batsman.
There were six premierships from 12 grand finals, including three in succession from 1957-58.
In the first of those he took 7/27 and 3/28 in the grand final against Currambene; and two years later he was dominant with 7/19 in the low-scoring final against Berry - four victims being clean bowled and the others lbw.
That gave him 51 wickets for the season, at an average of 6.17, including six bags of five or more.
Although Nowra's run ended in 1960-61, Bob had won the association bowling with an average of 6.75, and followed it up with 5/32 in the semi-final against Albatross and another five in the grand final.
In 1962-63, he became only the fifth first grade bowler in SDCA history to take all 10 wickets in an innings, 10/50 against Bomaderry Blues.
He finished that summer with 49 wickets, the season cut short by a drawn semi-final.
Coming second in both the batting and bowling averages in 1965-66, he took out the allrounder trophy.
His performances included his highest score of 86 not out against Bomaderry and a career best aggregate of 56 wickets including 16 in the finals.
That was eclipsed in 1968-69 when he became the first and only player to win the batting, bowling and allrounder awards - with 370 runs at 61.66, and 29 wickets at 8.72.
A rare double came against Cambewarra when he made 81 not out in a total of 147, and then captured 7/37 as the opposition was restricted to 116.
The 1967-68 season was different for Bob who had 31 wickets at 6.12 before Christmas including 7/26 against Warriors and 8/10 against Milton.
Having rarely been to the batting crease in that period, as captain he decided to move up the order in the new year.
Playing against Milton, he scored 81 and featured in an opening stand of 128 with Dick Stephenson that set up a declaration.
Bob followed that up with top score of 84 in the grand final, and then took 4/37 to destroy Berry's top order and assure Nowra of another premiership.
He took a hat-trick against Berry in 1975-76, and featured in his sixth premiership with Nowra the following year, taking his 50th grand final wicket.
There would be two further grand finals later in that decade, including 1979-80 when he again took the captaincy.
Coming into the 1980s, well past his 40th birthday, Bob won another association allrounder award, and made top score of 30 in the 1981-82 semi-final loss to eventual premiers Rugby Union.
His final first grade games were played in 1985-86 when he finished the season in second grade and enjoyed his final premiership - 34 years after his first.
Available figures show that from 320 SDCA first grade matches he scored around 4,200 runs including 11 half-centuries.
With the ball he took 10 or more wickets in six matches, and there were 35 other occasions when he took five or more in an innings.
His aggregate of wickets topped 750 - fourth on the association's all-time list - with more than 90 in finals matches; and with sure hands he accepted close to 150 catches.
Starting in the 17s, his representative career lasted around 20 years with a best analysis of 7/59, bowling unchanged for 13.3 [eight-ball] overs against Moss Vale seniors in 1965-66.
Off the field his efforts were also great: he became club secretary/treasurer late in the 1965-66 season, serving 10 full years as secretary and 12 as treasurer.
His life membership of the club conferred in 1979 was richly deserved.
Assisting the association's junior committee, he filled the role of auditor for several seasons during the 1980s.
Since 2005-06, the Evison Medal has been awarded annually to the man of the match in the second grade one-day final.
It recognises the contributions to the SDCA of Bob, his father and uncles.
Bob's funeral service will be held at the chapel of the Shoalhaven Crematorium at Worrigee on Friday, September 20 at 2pm.
He was the much-loved husband of Valerie, cherished Dad and father-in-law of Margaret and Scott, Craig and Maree and adored Pa to Bradley, Thomas, Kiera, Emily and Lucas.
CLYDE EVISON (1928-2019)
Four days before Bob's death, a funeral had been held for an older brother, William Clyde Evison, who although his career was considerably shorter, had recently been described as one of the oldest surviving Shoalhaven representative cricketers.
It was during the war years of 1944-45 that he made his debut with Nowra aged 16, playing in the same team as his father Ref.
There were several useful performances with bat and ball, and good judges could see him following in the family tradition.
The Evisons had been playing with Cambewarra since the 1860s and when that village returned to first grade in 1945-46, Clyde soon made his mark.
He hit 12 fours and four sixes in 119 against Numbaa-Pyree, the first century with the team since Ref's 234 against Perseverance in 1931-32.
When Cambewarra was placed in A reserve in 1946-47, Clyde had a top score of 83 against Tomerong, and when the 18-year-old attracted the attention of the association selectors, he responded with 39 in the senior representative final against Canberra.
He became a regular in rep teams for several seasons - both Colts and seniors, and playing in Sydney against St George teams in 1948-49 he had knocks of 54 and top score of 34.
By that time he had joined Bomaderry so that he could continue playing first grade.
After several seasons there his last game was the 1951-52 grand final when he was one of his team's better batsmen in the loss to Numbaa-Pyree.
Returning to Cambewarra for one last season in 1952-53 Clyde hit a highest score of 46 against Currambene, and had a team-mate in younger brother Bob who was finding his feet in the top division.
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