Lives in Cricket No 10 - John Shepherd

countries, who were escaping the depths of the English winter for four weeks of sunshine cricket in the Caribbean. They were managed by Les Ames, the Kent secretary and manager, captained by Trevor Bailey, secretary and captain of Essex and there were eight other players with Test experience – including Colin Cowdrey, of Kent and England. The schedule included four first-class matches in Jamaica and Barbados against sides representing each of the islands. In the first match versus Barbados the Cavaliers faced a strong island team including the Test players Nurse, Sobers, White and Griffith. But in the second match, also a three-day game, these players were withdrawn in order that they could travel to Jamaica to prepare for the first West Indies v Australia Test match which was to start in a few days’ time. Fellow Barbadians Conrad Hunte and Wesley Hall had also been called up for the Test side which was to have six Barbados players in it. This meant that there was an opportunity for those on the fringes of the Barbados team to be picked against the Cavaliers in the second match – among them the Belleplaine boys Keith Boyce and John Shepherd, who both made their first-class cricket debuts on 25 February 1965. In terms of personnel it was perhaps a Barbados ‘B’ side – but the record shows unequivocally that it was ‘Barbados’ – and that this was a proper first-class match! Whilst a month in the sun and a little gentle honing of cricket skills was the main purpose of the Cavaliers’ tour, a secondary objective, especially for Bailey, Ames and Cowdrey, was to keep an eye open for talented young cricketers who might be suitable for county cricket. Barbados was still a British colony at the time and its citizens had full British passports and right of residence in Britain – although prospective employers had to Belleplaine Boy 23 Belleplaine’s cricket ground nowadays caters for footballers and basketball players as well as for cricketers.