Lives in Cricket No 10 - John Shepherd

obtain a work permit and employment voucher for such ‘Commonwealth immigrant’ employees. Kent and Essex did not anticipate that this would be a problem – and nor was it. It was to be three years before the counties allowed themselves to offer an overseas player a playing contract without residential qualification, so in 1965 to bring a player to county cricket meant that they would have to qualify by residence – which took two years, during which time they could play Second Eleven, non-Championship and club cricket. Trevor Bailey, on behalf of Essex, and Ames and Cowdrey, on behalf of Kent, spoke with Everton Weekes about the availability of young players, and the two Weekes identified were Shepherd and Boyce. So the match was partly an audition, although neither player knew it at the time. The match itself was comparatively uneventful – more of an exhibition than a hard contest. In the Cavaliers’ first innings Shepherd bowled 18 overs for 54 runs and took his first first-class wicket – that of Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie who was stand-in captain for the match. Shepherd batted at three in the Barbados first innings and scored 22 before being caught by Cowdrey off Jim Laker – not the first player ever to fall to that combination! In the Cavaliers’ second innings John had similar figures to the first, one for 57 off 15 overs with the wicket of the great Hampshire Bajan Roy Marshall to his credit. And then in the final innings of the match, which was a draw, Shepherd scored 33 before being bowled by Trevor Bailey. A competent if not spectacular debut. When the Cavaliers match had finished John Shepherd received a telephone call from Everton Weekes to tell him that Kent was interested in signing him and also that Essex were going to make Keith Boyce an offer. This came rather out of the blue to Shepherd. His mentor Weekes, and other heroes from Barbados, had all played professionally in England in the Lancashire leagues – and Shepherd had been thinking about this possibility himself if he decided to try and make a cricket career rather than become a school teacher which was his most likely alternative choice. Weekes was the intermediary and it was through him that Shepherd conveyed his interest back to Les Ames and Colin Cowdrey. With the benefit of hindsight it is intriguing to speculate on the extraordinarily foresighted judgment that the Kent and Essex representatives had in picking out these two players and bringing them to England – clearly the recommendation of Weekes was crucial. Sir Everton says today that when he saw Shepherd at the age of 18 he felt sure that he would play for the West Indies and no doubt when he spoke with Ames and Cowdrey back in 1965 he said something similar. But before the final confirmation of an offer to John Shepherd could be made the General Committee of Kent County Cricket Club had to approve. The minutes 37 record, under the heading ‘W. Indian Cricketer’, that Les Ames 24 Belleplaine Boy 37 Minutes of Kent C.C.C. General Committee, 11 March 1965.