Surrey batter Laurie Evans is going for BBL glory with the Perth Scorchers tomorrow morning.
A breakout star of the competition, Laurie has pummelled 285 runs at 31.66, scoring them at 136.36 in his fourteen games so far. Not only that, when crisis came calling, Evans volunteered to keep wicket and was rewarded with nothing less than an actual stumping!
Speaking this week to voice of Surrey Cricket, Mark Church, for BBC London, a beaming Evans said: “I’m delighted to be in the final. [The Scorchers] started off the tournament not knowing how good we were as a side – as we’ve gone through we’ve slowly started to realise how much better we were than a lot of the other sides! That said, we had to make sure we didn’t become complacent and kept winning.”
The Scorchers finished comfortably top of the BBL ladder, and go into tomorrow morning’s game with the Sydney Sixers as favourites, with Evans admitting there is pressure on his side.
“I guess there is a bit of expectation on us to go out and win the thing”, he told Church, “but this group of people are very relaxed, very at peace with themselves and with each other. It’s been a great environment to be involved in!
“How many English guys get the opportunity to win the Big Bash? How many overseas players get the opportunity? To be out here and to have played the whole tournament is amazing and to have experienced the whole thing. There’s been some tough bits with no family, Covid and a broken toe but the upsides have been tremendous. If we can go and get that win on Friday night it would be pretty special and right up there for me and my career.”
However, Evans is not the only player with strong Surrey connections taking the field at the Marvel Stadium tomorrow. The Sydney Sixers could feature former Surrey overseas players Sean Abbott and Moises Henriques – and they began the season with Surrey’s Tom Curran and Chris Jordan playing a key role in their seam attack.
Click here to listen to the full interview, including Laurie’s take on his much discussed wicket keeping exploits and an admission about the haircut and facial hair Surrey fans should be prepared to see if they tune in tomorrow morning.
For an opportunity to speak directly to Laurie Evans on the night before the final, log onto the Instagram feed of the ACE Programme at 9pm tonight (January 27th)
