Lives in Cricket No 10 - John Shepherd

of the Benson and Hedges, their one-day record is second to none.’ 132 In the context of this record the county’s slip to eleventh in the Sunday League in 1978 was perhaps the only disappointment in a magnificent season. It was to be seventeen years before Kent was to win another trophy – the Sunday League in 1995 – but that’s another story. The John Shepherd cricket story happily did not finish at the end of the 1978 season, as we shall see, but in many ways that season was the apotheosis of his career. In June he was asked to captain the county for the first time, in a Championship match against Middlesex at Lord’s. He led Kent to a fine win, taking four wickets in the home team’s first innings and scoring a hard-hitting 58, including a six which hit the rail of the top balcony of the pavilion. Chasing 96 to win in their second innings, Kent got home comfortably in the end with Shepherd and Cowdrey junior scoring the winning runs for a six-wicket victory. As the two batsmen entered the Lord’s pavilion Shepherd was surprised that John Pocock, who was Chairman of Kent’s Cricket sub-Committee, ignored him. Shep’s colleague, the young Charles Rowe, noticed this apparent slight. ‘Perhaps Pocock didn’t support you as captain Shep?’ he said – and in the light of the committee’s deliberations in March perhaps Rowe was right. When the Kent Annual for 1979 was published, John Shepherd, the year’s beneficiary, was pictured on the front cover proudly clutching the ‘Kent Cricketer of the Year’ trophy. But a greater honour was to be granted shortly for, when Wisden published their 1979 almanack, Shep had been chosen as one of their five ‘Cricketers of the Year’. 133 The brief biography in Wisden captures well Shep’s career and few would challenge their statement that ‘Shepherd has reigned comfortably as one of the most successful all-rounders in the world … .’ But in 1979 and beyond even tougher challenges, both cricketing and personal, lay ahead. 98 The Consummate Professional 132 John Woodcock, The Times , 24 July 1978. 133 The other four were David Gower, John Lever, Chris Old and Clive Radley.