Early first-class career
During the summer which followed his final year at Malvern, Evans made his debut in first-class cricket for Worcestershire against Sussex at Worcester in the County Championship, making six appearances that season. He scored his maiden first-class century in his final match of the season, making 107 against Gloucestershire, whilst sharing in a partnership of 238 for the third wicket with R. E. Foster. From Malvern, he matriculated in the autumn of 1901 to Oriel College, Oxford. He played first-class cricket for Oxford University Cricket Club during his freshman year, debuting against H. D. G. Leveson Gower's personal eleven at Oxford in 1902. He played eight times for Oxford during his freshman year, gaining his blue that year by appearing in The University Match against Cambridge University at Lord's. Evans made his highest first-class score whilst playing for Oxford in 1902, with 142 against Sussex. That summer he qualified to play for Hampshire through the family home clause, by means of his uncle, Alfred Evans, living just inside the Hampshire county boundary with Berkshire. In July that season, he made four appearances for Hampshire in the County Championship.
Evans played the first half of the 1903 season for Oxford University, making nine appearances and once again playing in The University Match. During the latter half of the season, he played twice for the Gentlemen in the Gentlemen v Players match, in addition to playing for the Marylebone Cricket Club and C. I. Thornton's personal eleven, but did not feature for Hampshire. Although his batting form dropped away in 1903, he did have success with his right-arm fast bowling, taking 50 wickets at a bowling average of 18.08; he took five wickets in an innings on five occasions. Bowling performances of note included his 7 for 41 against Somerset, and his 7 for 52 in The University Match, in which he took 11 for 86 across the match and made a half century (60). He was appointed Oxford captain in 1904, though his bowling for Oxford somewhat fell-away, he did manage to average 54 with the bat from eight matches and saved Oxford from defeat in The University Match, by scoring two half centuries (65 and 86 not out). Later in the season he returned to play for Hampshire, making two appearances in the County Championship, in addition to playing for an England XI against the touring South Africans at Lord's.
Evans played his final season for Oxford in 1905, though he did not captain Oxford in the five matches in which he played, having been replaced by Kenneth Carlisle. For the only time he failed with the bat in that season's University Match, but did recover his bowling form to some extent across the season. He played for Oxford in 31 first-class matches, scoring 1,778 runs at an average of 34.19, making three centuries and thirteen half centuries. With the ball, he took 120 wickets at an average of 19.85, taking five wickets in an innings on ten occasions. His tally ranks as the sixteenth highest number of wickets for Oxford in first-class cricket. Whilst at Oxford, Evans also played association football for Oxford University A.F.C. for three seasons from 1902, where he played alongside another Old Malvernian, James Balfour-Melville. Evans also made five further appearances for Hampshire in the 1905 County Championship, and that season played for the Gentlemen in the Gentlemen v Players fixture, in addition to playing for the Gentlemen of England against the touring Australians.
