On January 20th, after a brief illness, the cause of death being
influenza followed by pneumonia, this celebrated cricketer passed away
at Clarence House, Windsor.
Mr. Evan Alcock Nepean was the eldest son of Sir Evan Nepean, at one
time Director of Army Contracts; he was born in 1865, and educated at
Sherborne School and University College, Oxford. He went up to Oxford
from a very moderate school with something of a reputation as a steady
batsman and an eccentric bowler, with not much length and a curl from
leg.
This was in 1886, and Mr. Nepean playing for his college eleven had to
endure the mortification of standing about in the field during long
afternoons watching the chastisement of very moderate bowlers by
moderate enough batsmen.
Mr. Nepean was an early apostle of the twisting methods which have since
won such renown for Warwick Armstrong, Braund, and many another; but in
the dark ages of the middle ’eighties he had to plead hard to be allowed
to bowl an over or two, so great was the contempt inspired by his
so-called “Donkey Drops” or “Cock-a-doodles.” But sometimes his frequent
request to be allowed to bowl was listened to, and historically was this
the case in 1887 in the Parks at Oxford, when he was playing in a trial
match for the Etceteras against the Perambulators. The academic and
fast-footed methods of the, for that day, at any rate, much miscalled
Perambulators led to their downfall at the fingers of the leg-twister,
and in a brief summer afternoon Mr. Evan Nepean had fully established
his claim to be regarded as a bowler to be reckoned with, although but
for his batting ability it is possible that he would never have had an
opportunity of bowling an over in first-class cricket.
The success of his methods, at that time regarded as barbaric and
unfashionable, led to his gaining a trial for the ’Varsity team, and it
was found that the best professional batsmen did not relish the task of
fencing with his insidious deliveries. “It may be awful tosh, but it
gets them out,” was the verdict of the Oxonians; and so Mr. Nepean
having twisted himself into the Oxford eleven of 1887, took five
Cambridge wickets at a cost of 83 runs, and going in first scored 58 not
out, when the Dark Blues went in to get the runs and won by seven
wickets. The astute intelligence which at that time controlled the
fortunes of Middlesex cricket speedily retained the eccentric bowler for
county purposes, and from 1887 regularly until 1889, and after his call
to the Bar intermittently for a few years, Mr. Nepean rendered great
service both with bat and ball to the cosmopolitan county.
The season 1889 was the most successful Mr. Nepean enjoyed; he headed
the Middlesex averages with 41 wickets, at an average cost of just over
18 runs apiece, and in that year he played for the Gentlemen against the
Players at Lord’s, Kennington Oval, and Hastings. It was against
professional batsmen that he had his most marked successes, and the
great Notts batsmen of that day, including Arthur Shrewsbury and William
Gunn, at the top of their form, would often fall a prey to his insidious
twisters; in fact, his record for Middlesex against Notts in 1889 was 12
wickets for 88 runs, at a time when Notts was one of the strongest
batting sides in the country. To a batsman quick on his legs the bowling
of Mr. Nepean presented few terrors, but to the academic player
accustomed to stand fast-footed in his ground and play gracefully
forward or back, the Shirburnian proved a severe thorn in the flesh. As
a batsman he displayed little of the enterprise associated with his
bowling methods, but his stolid defence often realised a good score, for
he was never in any hurry, and did not believe in sacrificing his
wicket.
Mr. Nepean was an industrious barrister, with a good and growing
practice, and had for some years held the post of revising barrister for
one of the Metropolitan divisions.
By his death a distinguished cricket career was terminated, and a most
promising professional career was cut short.