Lives in Cricket No 10 - John Shepherd

Chapter Four We are the Champions John Shepherd is a fine cricketer … he is what English cricket now seems unable to produce, a genuine all rounder. He is a good, practical bat who is at his best when attacking, but perhaps an even better bowler – probably the best of his type that Kent have had since the war. On the quick side of medium, he swings the ball both ways, moves off the seam, varies his pace and has a particularly good fast ball. He is a brilliant field anywhere, but especially close in. R.L.Arrowsmith in Kent: A History of County Cricket, 1971 1970 On 24 April 1970 Kent County Cricket Club held a dinner to celebrate its centenary at the Great Danes Hotel near Maidstone and John Shepherd, along with all the other players, was asked by the county captain Colin Cowdrey to take a bow and to be wished luck for the season ahead. After a promising run that included the Gillette Cup in 1967 and second-place finishes in the County Championship in 1967 and 1968, the county had slipped back in 1969, finishing tenth. Previewing the new season Les Ames referred to the return of Cowdrey, after injury, and Shepherd, and hoped that : ‘ … these two fine cricketers [would] make the Centenary Year … a memorable one by winning one of the competitions’. 57 Ames’ words were echoed by the chief guest at the dinner, the Leader of the Opposition, Edward Heath, who reflected back on the 1906 season when Kent had won the championship and a General Election had brought in a Conservative Prime Minister – he hoped for the same in 1970. County cricket was arranged in 1970 so that there were twenty-four three-day Championship matches and sixteen Sunday League games, plus the knock-out Gillette Cup and, in Kent’s case, a couple of other first-class matches. The prize that all at the county wanted above any other was the Championship, which in 1969 had gone to Glamorgan for the second time in their history. As Les Ames said the Kent team had been unbalanced in 1969 and had underperformed – only Luckhurst averaged over 40 with the bat and the bowling suffered badly from the absence of Shepherd. Optimism for 1970 came not just from the return of Shepherd and Cowdrey but from the fact that the squad contained seven players of 53 57 Reported in The Cricketer Spring Annua l, 1970.