Lives in Cricket No 10 - John Shepherd

and Underwood) and their replacements failed to make much of an impact – but even the mostly ever-present players, including John Shepherd, had moderate seasons and the team as a whole struggled to be competitive. The bowling was generally weak and, as Wisden records, Shepherd ‘plagued by niggling injuries, battled away to alleviate the obvious deficiencies in attack.’ 140 Battle he certainly did – his 473.1 overs in first-class matches was a workload second only to that of Underwood, and he was also the mainstay of the attack and the leading wicket-taker in the one-day competitions. But the county drifted from one poor result to another. They were knocked out by Yorkshire in the first round of the Gillette Cup; lost three of the four B&H group games and did not progress further; and won only six of their sixteen Sunday League matches to slip to eleventh in the table. In the Championship Kent won only twice and plummeted to sixteenth in the table. In July there was an innings defeat to Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge where, in their first innings, Kent was bowled out for just 67 – a match that John Shepherd missed. For Shepherd there were a few moments of bright light in the general gloom – a stunning 100 in 118 balls at Maidstone (2 sixes and 9 fours) against Surrey rescued Kent from a parlous 88 for six, although the match was eventually abandoned as a draw. Alan Ross described Shepherd as being ‘ … portly and pugnacious, plundering each bowler in turn. He hooked Jackman to the boundary in the first over … he went happily on his way sweeping and driving to his first hundred in two years.” 141 Shep’s ‘portly’ appearance was probably more due to his being wrapped up against the elements than to any incipient middle-aged spread! And how he enjoyed dispatching his old ‘Rhodesian’ adversary Robin Jackman to the boundary in such cavalier style! In his next innings Shep continued this good form with another hard-hitting innings against Somerset – 60 with 2 sixes and 7 fours helped Kent to some respectability after early struggles. With the ball there was hard work very often with little reward. An exception was against Yorkshire at Sheffield in June when on a lively pitch he took five for 40 in 19.2 overs – but there were few other highlights, just hard graft. And for Alan Ealham’s captaincy it was to be the end – Asif Iqbal, forgiven for his Packer ‘misdemeanours’ and the recent controversy when appearing for Pakistan against India overlooked, would be back in charge for 1981 – which was also his benefit season. This sacking of Ealham after only three years, the first of which at least had been spectacularly successful, was not universally welcomed and the appointment of Asif was seen by many commentators as a further error of judgment by the Kent committees. Robin Marlar, for example, said that ‘There are times when the Kent committee presents itself … poorly. They did so at the time of the Packer crisis and they have done so again by choosing Asif Iqbal for a second term … an appointment which is bad both for English cricket and for cricketers in England.’ 142 102 Kent: The Final Years 140 Dudley Moore in Wisden 1981. 141 Alan Ross, The Times , 12 July 1980. 142 Robin Marlar, The Cricketer , January 1981.