Evan Pitt – Mr Unconventional
As anybody versed in the foibles or the ebbs and flows of cricket can readily attest, what often seemed to be a predestined playing career path can often hit a fork in the road and take an abrupt U-Turn leading a player to success in an unexpected realm of the game.
The Evan Pitt journey with the Parramatta District Cricket Club is one such story.
The tallish, wiry Evan is a popular and well-liked teammate and person around the club. His persona is generally laidback, nothing seems to worry him, he’s a man who ‘dances to his own beat’ but this aura belies the determined and skilful cricketer that rests below the surface.
He opened his PDCC connection in season 2012/13 with a very solid all-round performance in the A.W. Green Shield – leading the team’s batting with 254 runs @ 42.33 (H.S. – 70 v. St. George, 61* v. Fairfield, 47 v. North Sydney, 40 v. Easts), his innings were free-flowing and forceful. Backing his batting exploits Evan snared 7 wickets @ 22.00 (B.B. – 4/16 v. Bankstown).
His deeds won him the club’s Harold Goodwin Batting Award and recognition in the Combined A.W. Green Shield rep teams.
As his NSW Premier Cricket playing days advanced Evan transformed from an authoritative right-handed middle-order batsman, who got the ‘occasional over as an afterthought’ into a medium-paced opening seam bowler who played a key role in Parramatta taking out the 2022/23 Belvidere Cup.
The 2013/14 season saw Evan settle down and make his mark with the bat, he was more considered and less laissez-faire in his approach to batting, showing more application and was subsequently rewarded with a promising 426 runs @ 32.77 (H.S. – 71* v. Manly, 68 v. Campbelltown, 43 v. Bankstown, 37* v. Easts, 31 v. Fairfield). By way of contrast his season’s bowling output amounted to just 27 over for 4 wickets @ 28.25.
After a somewhat forgettable season in 2014/15, he ‘bounced back with a gusto’ in 2025/16 to deliver his most prolific return to date. In all he marshalled 529 runs (2nds – 59, 3rds – 426, 4ths – 44) @ 37.44. His form in Third grade was dynamic and team captain Jason Coleman summed Evan’s performances in the Annual Report as “After a quite year in 2014/15 he produced a phenomenal season with the bat, proving to be the side’s best batsman, leading run scorer, best average, and more importantly, played a massive part in a lot of our victories keeping a cool head under pressure. Was rewarded with four Second grade games and will obviously play plenty more in the future”. His 410 runs @ 45.56 in the thirds included his maiden century for the club, 113 v. Eastern Suburbs, 94 v. North Sydney, 70* v. Fairfield. Across the various grades he only delivered 15 overs without securing a wicket.
Starting 2016/17 in Third grade Evan struck a commanding 155* against Penrith in round 1 and was projected immediately up to Second grade, where he remained for the rest of the season, batting soundly to compile 182 runs @ 26.00 (H.S. – 72* v. Sutherland).
Injury impacted on Evan’s progress, and he played little cricket in 2017/18 and caused him to sit out the whole of 2018/19.
Back to fitness in 2019/20 he blazed 199 runs @ 49.75 (including his third century for the club – 103* v. St. George, and 75 v. Sydney). These efforts won him promotion back to Second grade (105 runs @ 17.50 (H.S. – 69 v. North Sydney) and 2 wickets @ 70.00).
The 2020/21 season saw Pitt’s cricketing world ‘do an about face.’ Pre-Christmas, he had captured just a single wicket, and he was only a spare part member of the attack. But post the break his ‘old school’ medium-paced seamers blossomed, and he grabbed a further 21 wickets. A standout 7/42 against Northern District changed his cricketing fortunes and brought him onto the radar for future First grade selection.
Whilst his bowling came to the fore Evan still made a handy contribution with the bat – his all-round efforts yielded 202 runs @ 25.25 (H.S. – 43* v. Sydney University, 40 v. Manly) and 22 wickets @ 25.33 (B.B. – 7/42 v. N.D, 4/15 v. St. George, 3/42 v. Wests).
Solid and reliable bowling in Seconds (14 wickets @ 17.86 (B.B. – 2/21 v. N.D., 3/23 v. Randwick-Petersham, 2/23 v. Wests) earned the one-time specialist batsman a debut in the top grade – thus becoming Parramatta District Cricket Club First Grade Player Number: 615.
Parramatta took out the First grade Premiership (Belvidere Cup) in 2022/23, and Evan Pitt proved to be a very worthy member of that team. He enjoyed an outstanding season, providing valuable lower-order runs in pressure situations, best illustrated in the game against North Sydney in round 12 – with a finals position on the line Parramatta were wobbling at 8/80 and then Evan stepped up and plundered a blistering 98 to lift his team to an eventual winning total of 264. All up he amassed a fine 327 runs @ 40.88.
Throughout the season his new ball trundling made consistent early breakthroughs, and he ended with 21 wickets @ 41.14. The show stopping moment for Evan came in the Qualifying Final at Old Kings Oval against a star-studded St. George team full of first-class representatives. Sensationally, Parramatta’s opening attack of Evan Pitt and Michael Sullivan ‘wreaked havoc’ rendering the Saints 5/12 off the first 12 overs of the innings and putting in place the groundwork for a Parramatta victory and launching the two-blues on the path to the Belvidere Cup Premiership win. Since that season Evan’s cricket has been subject to a range of injuries that have greatly disrupted his time on the playing field.
Career Statistics - as at 2024/25
Parramatta’s 2022/23 First Grade Premiership Winning Team
Back Row: E. Pitt, D. Kant, P. Sullivan (Assist Coach), R. Hackney, W. Jarman, M. Sullivan, P. Xie, R. Gupta, P. Garlick (Scorer).
Front Row: J. Coleman (Club Coach), A. Calvert, A. Evans, N. Bertus ©, L. Dempsey, H. Goulstone, B. Abbott.
By Tom Wood – Parramatta District Cricket Club Historian