Lives in Cricket No 10 - John Shepherd

There were few wins in Shepherd’s first season at Gloucestershire and the county finished fifteenth in the Championship and fourteenth in the Sunday League. But on a personal level Shepherd was content that he had bowled his heart out to good effect and shown to his new colleagues that he was more than worth his place in the side. And he had shown to Kent, who had a dreadful season in Asif’s last year as captain, what they were missing. Shep also captained Gloucestershire three times during the season when the captain David Graveney was absent. 1983 The double of 100 first-class wickets and 1,000 first-class runs, which John Shepherd had so narrowly missed back in 1968, had been redefined by Wisden’s Cricketers’ Almanack from the 1969 season onwards to reflect the reduction in the number of first-class matches played. From that year Wisden had recorded those cricketers in an English domestic season that had taken 50 wickets and scored 1,000 runs. It was a select list, comprising mostly the great allrounders such as Garry Sobers, Mushtaq Mohammad, Tony Greig, Mike Procter, Imran Khan, Clive Rice and Ian Botham. In 1983 John Shepherd was to join this distinguished list for, at the age of 39, he scored 1,025 runs and took 67 wickets in the season. 150 In addition he scored 196 runs and took 36 wickets in one-day matches. It was an astounding achievement which seemed to surprise even Gloucestershire’s captain David Graveney, who eulogised: John Shepherd has also been in outstanding form with both bat and ball following a settling-in period last season, which was always going to be difficult for a player who had served Kent so loyally over many years. He has emerged this season as probably the most effective allrounder in the country despite his age, and regarding this delicate matter, I know that he takes much pride in the fact that many younger players have decided to call it a day! 151 What had characterised John Shepherd’s cricket in his glory years at Kent had been his ability to adapt his game to the circumstances of the match and the needs of the team. Barely a match passed without there being a significant contribution with bat or ball or in the field. This was to be the case in 1983, although generally in a losing cause, for Gloucestershire finished twelfth in the Championship, fourteenth in the Sunday League and bowed out in the quarter-final stages in the two knock-out tournaments. At Kent, Shep’s contribution had been to a team glistening with stars – at Gloucester, only Zaheer Abbas, the grouchy Chris Broad, who was to leave the county at the end of the year, and Jack Russell in his first full season could be regarded like Shepherd as top-class players. Third Innings 110 150 Shepherd’s first-class run total was his second highest in an English season (1,157 in 1968 was the highest) and his average of 36.61 was also his second highest (38.91 in 1976 was the best). His total of 67 first-class wickets was his fifth highest. 151 David Graveney in his ‘Captain’s Column’ in The Cricketer , August 1983.