Lives in Cricket No 10 - John Shepherd

Shepherd’s memory. As he passed the slip cordon on the way back to the pavilion Chappell, who has been memorably described as being ‘no slouch in the profanity department’, 46 sent him on his way with a vicious sledge which combined the ‘f-word’ with a racial slur. It was, as Shepherd now recalls, an extraordinary moment – the first time that anyone had sworn at him during a match and the first time he had been so abused. If Chappell’s intention was to wind up the usually placid and imperturbable Shepherd he succeeded, because when Chappell came into bat, with Shepherd bowling, the latter tried to get his own back with aggressive short-pitched fast bowling which the Australian dealt with contemptuously as he scored an entertaining 57 – the visitors’ top score. The ironic twist to this story is that some years later Shepherd and Chappell were to play together for the International Wanderers in South Africa and they became close friends – which they are still today. Although John Shepherd may have been momentarily discomforted by Ian Chappell’s abuse at Canterbury, it did not affect his performances for the rest of the season. The batting highlights were a century at Lord’s versus Middlesex in a partnership of 189 with Cowdrey, who also scored a hundred. Shepherd reached his hundred by smashing fellow West Indian Harry Latchman into the grandstand for six, although Latchman got his revenge with the very next ball. In Shepherd’s next innings, at Folkestone, he scored 170, including 5 sixes and 24 fours, in under three hours against Northamptonshire, taking Kent from 181 for 5 and setting up the foundations of an important win. There were to be, in total, ten centuries in Shepherd’s first-class career and this innings was destined to be the highest of them. It was to be Shepherd’s bowling talents which were to the fore in the next match when he took five for 30 to help bowl Glamorgan out for 103 and again set up another Kent win in their last championship match of the season. That match was John Shepherd’s last first-class match of the season and he had now scored 1,157 runs at 29.66 and taken 96 wickets at 18.72 – tantalisingly close to the double. He could have joined his team-mates Knott and Underwood in the MCC side to play Yorkshire at Scarborough in an effort to get the final four wickets he needed – but after a long and at times tough season he decided to call it a day. No Kent player had completed a double since Les Todd in 1936 and had he not missed three matches in mid-season Shepherd would certainly have secured this rare achievement. Similarly, as in 1967, he often did not bowl many overs on the more helpful rain-affected wickets where the incomparable Derek Underwood held sway. 47 In 1968 Kent won more Championship matches than any other county but they were well behind Yorkshire on bonus points and eventually finished runners-up for the second year running. John Shepherd’s contribution with Kentish Apprentice 40 46 William Buckland, Pommies: English Cricket Through an Australian Lens , Troubadour Publishing, 2008. 47 The ‘double’ has been achieved only twice since 1968, by Richard Hadlee in 1984 and by Franklyn Stephenson in 1988.