Famous Cricketers No 49 - Don Shepherd

569. Glamorgan v Nottinghamshire, Swansea, August 31, September 1, 2 (Nottinghamshire won by 166 runs) c G.St A.Sobers b D.J.Halfyard 0 254 25 5 82 0 394-5d b R.A.White 4 113 25 10 43 2 D.L.Murray c A.E.Cordle 139-6d G.St A.Sobers b 570. Glamorgan v Kent, Folkestone, September 4, 5, 6 (Kent won by an innings and 77 runs) c A.G.E.Ealham b J.N.Graham 2 103 40 11 114 1 Asif Iqbal c O.S.Wheatley 330 c and b A.Brown 9 150 SEASON’S AVERAGES Batting and Fielding M I NO Runs HS Ave 50 Ct Championship 26 29 14 105 18* 7.00 - 4 Other matches 2 3 0 30 14 10.00 - - Season 28 32 14 135 18* 7.94 - 4 Career 570 740 210 5120 73 9.66 4 223 Bowling O M R W Ave BB 5wi 10wm Championship 972.4 381 1876 80 23.45 6/40 1 - Other matches 92 41 144 6 24.00 2/23 - - Season 1064.4 422 2020 86 23.48 6/40 1 - Career 18734.4 6291 40674 1929 21.08 9/47 113 26 1969 In 1969 Shepherd at last helped his team emulate the great Championship victory that had created the conditions that expanded the Glamorgan staff and led to his first contract. May was wet and uninteresting and the county played only three matches. It was not until June 3rd that the Welsh bandwagon started rolling with a 10-wicket victory over Somerset. Two matches later came that strange match when Hampshire went home, thinking play had been abandoned, and Glamorgan were awarded the win by default. That decision was later revoked, but the unexpected extra points boosted the Glamorgan confidence. An innings victory over Sussex followed, and then a 29-run win over Worcestershire. There had been no real Shepherd magic early on, but that changed at Hastings where his eight wickets set up a win by 72 runs. Gloucestershire went down by 208 runs, thanks to the seam bowlers, and Derbyshire by an innings. In August Northamptonshire went down by 7 wickets, and when Gloucestershire were beaten by an innings the Championship race was well and truly on. Rain ruined the game against Nottinghamshire, but Middlesex, the Welsh county’s biggest tormentors in more usual times, were beaten by 3 wickets. Two exciting matches against Essex followed. The first, at Chelmsford, was the match when Brian Ward had to retire with rain on his contact lenses. Glamorgan were kept in the match early on by an unlikely last wicket partnership of 78 between Shepherd and the left-handed Lawrence Williams which earned three unexpected batting points. Rain had the final say. The return match at St. Helens ended with John Lever, last man in, run out going for a tie. It was September 2nd, and the title looked to be Glamorgan’s. They made certain among the celebrating crowd at Cardiff as Worcestershire were beaten by 147 runs, Shepherd taking seven wickets in the match and passing 2,000 in his career. He celebrated the landmark with a glass of champagne on the field. It had not been one of his most spectacular seasons, but he still finished as leading wicket taker with 81 victims. Yet the reason for the Championship victory is made obvious by the averages, with six leading bowlers averaging under 23.42 - Nash 80 wickets at 19.50, Lawrence Williams 56 wickets at 22.23, Cordle 59 at 22.38, Peter Walker 56 at 23.14 and Roger Davis 32 at 23.43. 60