Lives in Cricket No 10 - John Shepherd

deprive the county of their services from time to time, there was sufficient strength in depth and cover available in the likes of Johnson, Nicholls, Graham and Ealham. As we have seen, John Shepherd had been overlooked by the West Indies in their selection of the party for a three-Test tour in the late summer (as he had been for the Australian visit to the Caribbean earlier in the year), although his compatriot and friend Keith Boyce and his county colleague Bernard Julien made the squad – and both were to perform outstandingly as the West Indies, under Rohan Kanhai, enjoyed their first series win for seven years. Knott, Underwood and Luckhurst served England in Test matches and Denness joined them as captain for the One Day Internationals, and Bernard Julien played for the West Indies in all their international matches on the tour. These absences meant that John Shepherd was the mainstay of the Kent side, playing in all 24 first-class matches, all but one of the seven B&H games, both Gillette Cup matches and 15 of the 16 Sunday League games. In the County Championship, in which Kent were to finish a respectable fourth place, John Shepherd bowled 659.1 overs and took 78 wickets – more overs and more wickets than any other Kent bowler. Good performances in the four other Kent first-class matches took Shepherd’s first-class wicket haul for the season to 92 from 800.3 overs, at 22.32. He also played 35 first-class innings scoring 803 runs at 25.93, including five fifties. Early season highlights included a five-wicket haul at Lord’s against Middlesex in June when he bowled 19.5 overs on the trot and took five for 40 and an aggressive 57* with 2 sixes and 8 fours in a declaration, setting century partnership with Cowdrey against Hampshire at Tunbridge Wells later that month. Shepherd’s bowling flourished through most of the summer and from late June to the end of the season there was hardly a match in any of the competitions in which he did not take at least four wickets in an innings. In 25 matches under various rules in July, August and September he took a remarkable 85 wickets. In the Championship in early July he played in the emotional match at Maidstone against Surrey (taking four wickets in the Surrey first innings) in which Colin Cowdrey completed his one hundredth hundred in first-class cricket. Later in the month he had a fine spell of seam bowling against Middlesex who were fast becoming his favourite opponents. Shepherd’s six for 127 in 33.3 overs included the wickets of Test players Radley, Brearley, Gomes and Murray. He also took five for 92 against Essex at Leyton, helping set up an improbable win after Kent had been dismissed for 81 in their first innings. This was to be followed by a match against Worcestershire in which Shepherd’s allround talents were displayed at their best. He helped rescue Kent from a parlous 108 for six in their first innings by launching a ferocious assault on the Worcester bowling scoring 71 out of 94 in 65 minutes, including 6 sixes and 4 fours. Then when the opponents batted he opened the bowling and took four for 106 in 38 overs. A few days later Lancashire were the visitors to Folkestone and, batting at seven, Shep, in what Wisden called a ‘brilliant display’, scored 87 (4 sixes and 10 fours) in a successful chase for batting bonus 62 We are the Champions