Lives in Cricket No 10 - John Shepherd

included a hard-hitting 76 against the Indian tourists whose attack had their spin-maestros Bedi, Venkat and Chandrasekar – he took six wickets in the same match. There was also a cultured 81, and a partnership of 105 in 100 minutes with Cowdrey on a green pitch at Southampton in June. In July Shepherd helped Kent to a good win against Lancashire at Southport, taking five for 60 in the second innings. With Cowdrey missing and Underwood and Knott on Test duty a weakened side struggled in the latter part of the season and in the end finished a respectable fourth in the County Championship. One remarkable near miss was in the match against Sussex at Eastbourne in August when a target of 219 in an hour plus twenty overs might have been reached had Mike Denness not broken his nose during the run chase. John Shepherd hit a rumbustious 32, including three sixes, to take Kent tantalisingly close. Later in the month Shepherd scored 72* in a partnership of 104 full of brilliant strokes with Asif Iqbal against Worcestershire at Folkestone. But fourth in the Championship was a disappointment after the heights of the previous year and Kent also slipped back in the Sunday League falling from runners-up to seventh. Shepherd made a major contribution in this competition with bat (415 runs at 34.58) and ball (26 wickets at an economical 17.07). A highlight was the match against Somerset at Canterbury in August, when Shepherd scored 46 to help build a respectable total and then took four for 20 to set up the win. Curiously Shepherd’s bowling in first-class matches was less effective – 59 wickets at an average of 32.98 (compared with 86 at 26.98 the previous year). It may be that the workload (768 overs) took its toll. He was also hampered at times with an intercostal muscle strain, missing one or two matches as a result. The highlight of Kent’s 1971 season was a run in the Gillette Cup which took them to their second one-day final at Lord’s, against Lancashire. The semi-final at Canterbury against Warwickshire was described as having drawn ‘ … the largest and most enthusiastic crowd seen at Canterbury since Bradman’s farewell match in 1948’ and Shepherd’s economical bowling (two for 29 in nine overs) was one of the key factors in a comfortable win for the home team. At Lord’s in September, in front of 25,000 spectators, one of the great finals saw Shepherd again bowl economically – his 12 overs cost 38 runs and he also had the wicket of David Lloyd. Chasing a modest total of 225 to win Kent were in serious trouble when Shepherd joined Asif Iqbal at 105 for five. They steadied the ship but Shepherd was out for 18 having ‘hung on courageously’ despite being ‘always ill at ease’ and at 162 for six there seemed a platform for victory with Asif playing one of his great one-day innings. Asif took Kent tantalisingly close before falling to a wonder catch at mid-off by Lancashire skipper Jack Bond – after which Kent subsided and Lancashire deservedly won the trophy. 63 Joining the Kent first-team squad in 1971, after a qualifying year in the Second XI, had been the 21-year-old Trinidadian allrounder Bernard Julien We are the Champions 58 63 Tony Pawson reporting on the Gillette Cup in The Cricketer , October 1971.