Jeff Evans, the former first-class umpire who lived in Drefach in Carmarthenshire, passed away peacefully after a short illness on Easter Sunday (20 April) at the age of 70 with his family at his bed-side.(writes Andrew Hignell)
Born and raised in Llanelli, Jeff attended the town’s Grammar School for Boys before training as a teacher at Dudley College of Education. For many years, the Welsh-speaker mixed teaching PE with playing cricket in the South Wales Cricket Association, before starting to umpire matches during the early 1990s, especially those involving Welsh Schools and Glamorgan Colts.
His successful and smooth transition from player to umpire continued in 1996 when he was appointed to the list of officials who stood in Minor County cricket, whilst in May 1997 he umpired his first county Second Eleven match as Glamorgan met their counterparts from Kent at Pontarddulais.
Jeff was subsequently appointed to the ECB’s Reserve List of Umpires in 1999 and during May that year he stood in his inaugural first-class match, alongside John Holder, in the game between Oxford University and Warwickshire at The Parks. In 2002 Jeff was elevated to the ECB’s full list of Umpires and subsequently stood in 258 first-class matches, 225 List A games and 157 T20 contests until retiring at the end of the 2020 season.
Given Jeff’s Welsh connections, his final first-class game was at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff during 2020 when he stood in the closing Bob Willis Trophy match of the season between Glamorgan and Warwickshire, with both teams forming a socially-distanced Guard of Honour as he walked off the field for the final time.
In 2004 Jeff had been the fourth official in the England-West Indies Test Match at Lord’s, whilst in 2007 and again in 2008, he officiated in the Indian Cricket League. Jeff also officiated in the Emirates T20 tournament in Dubai in 2010, and after retiring from the ECB’s list, he continued for a while to umpire in club cricket in South and West Wales besides advising and mentoring aspiring umpires.
His knowledge and expertise was also used by Welsh language broadcasters S4C, as well as BBC Radio Wales, in their coverage of Glamorgan’s T20 matches. A natural raconteur, Jeff was also an accomplished after-dinner speaker – an opportunity which allowed him to share his passion for the game, as well as many humorous incidents, at a number of cricket clubs and other organisations throughout the country.
On hearing of his passing Dan Cherry, Chief Executive Officer of Glamorgan Cricket said, “Jeff Evans was a popular figure on the county circuit and was one of a new genre of umpires who successfully stood in first-class cricket without having played county cricket themselves. Everyone at Glamorgan County Cricket Club and within Welsh Cricket as a whole sends their condolences to Jeff’s family at this difficult time. He will be deeply missed as well by his many friends and colleagues throughout the cricketing world.”