Cricket Witness No 3 - The Daffodil Blooms

95 New faces invited to nets at Cardiff had not impressed. The only sticking point was the involvement of Worcestershire and their offer of a contract to Don to play for them. As befitted the arch-strategist, Wilf duly asked George, in his capacity as coach, to make contact with Don and to gently persuade him that there was really only one county for which a Welshman could happily play. As Don later recalled: “I told him that I had already committed myself with Worcestershire, but he approached them and they were decent enough not to stand in my way. As it turned out, Reg Perks continued playing for a further eight seasons so thank the Lord, I didn’t end up at Worcester!” 7 There was, no doubt, a broad smile on Wooller’s face a couple of months later when he wrote in the South Wales Cricketers Magazine about the county’s acquisitions for 1948. Perhaps his mirth clouded his knowledge as he announced that the additions to the staff included “Don Sheppherd (sic), off-spinner of Swansea.” It proved to be a prescient mistake as far as his bowling style was concerned, as the man who became the first and only Glamorgan bowler to claim over 2,000 first-class wickets later switched styles from pace to spin. It was in the vicinity of the historic St. John’s Wood ground that the Don Shepherd as seen in 1950.