Laurie Evans

Another flamboyant clean-hitter of the ball, Laurie Evans, hailing from London. Primarily, Evans wanted to become a rugby player but a series of shoulder injuries broke that dream. However, those injuries couldn’t hold him from playing cricket. 

Evans started off the sport at an age of 15 by playing for Whitgift School and moved to Durham University for better opportunities. At Durham, he progressed under Graeme Flower to become a quality batter and was soon drafted into the Surrey academy set-up. He made his first-class debut in 2007 but his stint with the county wasn’t everlasting. 

After leaving Surrey, Evans joined Warwickshire and became a star for them. He had a couple of good seasons before his breakthrough year in 2013, scoring three hundred and 950 runs in the Championship. The following year, Evans played extraordinarily in the finals of the T20 Blast and the Royal London Cup of 2014. 

As Evans’ career was progressing in the limited-overs, his capabilities in the longest format were fading away, which led to the end of the contract at Warwickshire. He joined Sussex ahead of the 2017 season and the county untapped the potential by moving the finisher to the number three slot. 

During the 2018 T20 season, he unleashed himself to become the highest run-scorer in the tournament, which opened up gates for CPL, APL, PSL, BPL in the following year. In Bangladesh, he scored his maiden T20 ton for Rajshahi Kings and ended the season at the top of the run-tally.

In 2021, the Oval Invincibles drafted Evans into the squad for the inaugural season of the Hundred. If the franchises use a talent like Evans at top of the order, he has all the ingredients to produce a tournament-winning season for them. 

(As of April 2021)