Lives in Cricket No 10 - John Shepherd

Northern Ireland where a match took place which has entered into the folklore of cricket, featuring in such books as David Mortimer’s Classic Cricket Clangers and Andrew Ward’s Cricket’s Strangest Matches , among many others. The cricket ground Holm Field is at Sion Mills, a small town on the A5 half way between Londonderry and Omagh in Northern Ireland. The journey to Sion Mills started after the Lord’s Test when the West Indies rushed, after one of Nancy Doyle’s 51 three-course meals, to catch their flight to Belfast and then a road journey to Londonderry. It was late and when they eventually arrived it was very late and further refreshments were not available. This refutes the myth that the reason that the Windies were not at their best the following day against Ireland was that they had dined and been entertained too liberally the night before! The next morning the West Indies struggled a bit before the game as their kit did not arrive with them but gradually things began to get in order and they batted first so that the Irish crowd could relish their batting skills. The wicket, however, was green – about as emerald green as a leprechaun’s cloak – and the luck of the Irish was in play. Shepherd came to the wicket with the score at 8 runs for six wickets and departed for nought fairly soon after and, despite a robust last-wicket partnership of 13, the West Indies were all out for a less than challenging 25. It was the strangest cricket match in John Shepherd’s long cricket career! The Third Test match took place at Headingley in July and there were concerns in the West Indies camp about John Shepherd’s fitness following the injury that he had sustained at Lord’s. There was talk of calling up Shepherd’s fellow Bajan and friend Keith Boyce, who was playing for Essex, to replace him. Sobers favoured this idea but his fellow selectors would not go with it and Shepherd kept his place. The West Indies put themselves in a strong position by bowling England out for 223 with Shepherd taking three for 43 in 24 overs despite bowling in considerable pain from his injury. But 48 Testing Times The regal touch. John Shepherd meeting the Queen during the Lord’s Test in June 1969. 51 Nancy Doyle was the châtelaine of the players’ dining-room at Lord’s for many years.