Lives in Cricket No 10 - John Shepherd

West Indies side and there was speculation that John Shepherd’s allround skills might just put him in the running for a Test place. Shepherd’s mentor Everton Weekes met up with him and told him that there was a very good chance that he would be picked for the squad for the First Test in Trinidad in January. In the MCC tourists’ very first game Shepherd was chosen to face them for Barbados Colts in a two-day match and a good performance would probably have led to his selection for the four-day President’s Eleven match which followed it in Bridgetown – and then for the Test team. But fate was to take a hand. In MCC’s first innings Shepherd bowled first change, taking a wicket and a catch – then, on New Year’s Day he opened the innings for the Colts, putting on 74 with Geoff Greenidge before having to retire hurt after being hit in the face by a rising ball from David Brown. It was a serious injury, a depressed fracture, which threatened the sight in his left eye – he played no further part in the match and was detained in hospital for two weeks. This was one of the great ‘might have beens’ of John Shepherd’s career. Had helmets been the norm the blow from Brown might have done no damage and it could have been Shepherd not Steve Camacho who got the selectors’ nod later in the month in Port of Spain. As it was, Shepherd did not play again until he was selected for Barbados against MCC – a match which started on 22 February. In retrospect the return was too soon and both his bowling (none for 87 in 27 overs) and his batting (six and four) suggest he was not yet ready to recommence first-class cricket. Tony Cozier wrote later in the year that ‘Shepherd’s claims for a place [on the 1968/9 tour of Australia] were strong before he took a blow on the face from fast bowler David Brown. … That accident set him back considerably and combined with an effort to make him into an opening batsman, saw him failing in the Barbados match. His claims virtually vanished and no one expected him to be named in April.’ 44 Meanwhile England went on to win the Fourth Test and hang on for a draw in the Fifth to secure a famous series win – with Shepherd’s friends and Kent team-mates Cowdrey and Knott playing the crucial part in both matches. 1968 When John Shepherd, newly engaged to be married and now very much in the thoughts of the West Indies selectors, returned to England at the beginning of the 1968 season, both his and Kent’s expectations were high. In the back of Shepherd’s mind was the possibility of being selected for the West Indies visit to England in 1969 and in the front of his mind was the determination to build on his personal success in his debut season and to help Kent to win their first County Championship after recent near-misses. Whilst the Championship win remained elusive, Shepherd was to have a personal annus mirabilis which showed that his extended Kent apprenticeship was finally over – by the end of the season his was always Kentish Apprentice 36 44 Tony Cozier, article in the Barbados Advocate-News , 18 September 1968.