Lives in Cricket No 10 - John Shepherd

have thought that there was so much water having flowed under the bridge that by then cricket administrators would be different. Not always so! In South Africa, during the World Cup, England captain Nasser Hussain asked the then chief executive of the (now) International Cricket Council, Malcolm Speed, how his players could be asked to play in Zimbabwe ‘ … when we don’t think that it is morally right’. Hussain reported that when he said the word ‘morally’ Speed ‘jumped at me. … It was as if … as soon as you used that word … they would immediately tell us that we can’t have morals in cricket.’ 28 Plus ça change! Similarly there has been little change in the tendency of some of those in charge of cricket to regard cricketers as disposable – just as Kent did back in 1981 with John Shepherd. Shepherd’s crassly handled sacking by Kent, two years after his benefit and with sixteen years of loyal service behind him, was an inspiration for him to prove them wrong at his new county, Gloucestershire – which he certainly did. In 2008 Matt Walker, also like Shep a recent Kent beneficiary, was sacked peremptorily after eighteen seasons with the county. Walker said when he was quickly picked up by Essex: ‘I’ve loved playing for Kent, but at this club people seem to think your time is running out when you get to a benefit year and that maybe you’ve already done your best work.’ 29 Plus ça change again! There is a lot of pompous rhetoric in cricket and there always has been. Cricket lovers often have a self-congratulatory air about them and they sometimes exude a sort of knowingness that whilst there are plenty of sports around none of them can compare with the ‘noble game’, which has a unique ‘spirit’ all of its own. I have always thought this to be poppycock, which is not to say that that there is not nobility in the sport, nor that it does not have players of principle playing it. One such was John Shepherd who always played the game unselfishly, putting team ahead of self, always walking if he nicked the ball and always treating colleagues and opponents alike with courtesy and consideration. The many distinguished ex-cricketers who have willingly talked to me about Shep have done so in part because they think that his life in cricket was noteworthy and that the story merits telling – I hope that I have done it justice. But as Derek Underwood put it, they also think that Shep is ‘above all a great bloke’.’ 30 The Australian Test cricketer Max Walker played with Shep in South Africa in 1976 and later wrote that Shepherd’s … company was an absolute joy. Blessed with a sharp wit and an engaging smile [he was] a man of immense character and courage, he steadfastly refused to believe that his colour should bar him from playing cricket anywhere. He would laugh at the idiosyncrasies of the whites and would laugh at being a black in a white society. He was a cricketer who liked to laugh a lot. 31 Introduction 15 28 Nasser Hussain, Playing with Fire , Michael Joseph, 2004. 29 Kent Online website, September 2008. 30 Derek Underwood, interview with the author, 16 October 2008. 31 Max Walker, How to Hypnotise Chooks , Gary Sparke, 1987.