Lives in Cricket No 10 - John Shepherd

meet Nkomo. Shepherd was understandably concerned when this giant of a man, with an unrivalled reputation in Rhodesia for defending the rights of the black man, entered the room. ‘I’m in real trouble now,’ Shep thought. He need not have been worried. Nkomo offered his huge hand and shook Shepherd’s warmly: ‘Mr Shepherd, I just want to welcome you to Rhodesia’, he said in a very softly spoken voice, ‘and I do apologise for the article in the newspaper – I did not sanction it.’ Whilst Rhodesia did not formally practice apartheid there was in reality a significant racial divide as in South Africa – which John Shepherd and his wife were soon to realise. Shortly after the ‘non-selection’ incident Shepherd and his wife were invited for a lunch by his patron the Asian Suman Mehta who, it transpired, had also been a freedom fighter and had been imprisoned with Nkomo. The white waiter ignored them in the restaurant and when Mehta later phoned the restaurant owner to complain, he said that he was sorry because his ‘stupid waiter hadn’t realised that it was John Shepherd’ – i.e. that Shep was a famous honorary white! The Rhodesia side, after their humiliation at Newlands, had moved on to play Eastern Province in Port Elizabeth where they fared better in a drawn match, but with Robin Jackman again wicketless. Currie Cup matches against Transvaal (which was won, with Jackman back in the wickets) and Natal (lost by 10 wickets) followed. By then the issue of John Shepherd’s non-selection had rumbled on in South Africa, not least because of Barry Richards’ criticism, and eventually the Rhodesian selectors relented and chose Shepherd for the next match – a one-day Gillette Cup game against Eastern Province in Port Elizabeth on 31 January 1976. On arrival at his hotel in Port Elizabeth Shepherd saw Brian Davison the Rhodesian captain who greeted him with the words, ‘You got the money then!’ – a reference to Shep’s remark that he wouldn’t play for $10,000. Shepherd’s first reaction to this frosty greeting was to think that he should get the next plane back to Salisbury but he played – and then, back in Rhodesia again, he played twice more in Currie Cup matches. Shepherd helped Rhodesia get the better of a draw with Western Province in Salisbury, with innings of 65 and 33 and bowling of three for 34 and one for 27, and he also played his part in a win against Eastern Province at Bulawayo. John Shepherd’s final visit to South Africa came immediately after the completion of his contract with the Salisbury club, Sunrise. The Australian Test cricketer turned commentator Richie Benaud managed a strong side, captained by Greg Chappell and which included most of the Australian bowling attack which had recently played so well in the Australians’ 5-1 series drubbing of the West Indies in Australia. It was a seven-match tour in March and April 1976 and along with Shepherd in the party were his Kent colleagues Derek Underwood and Mike Denness. The tour was highly political with the various racially-structured factions of South African cricket battling one another both before and during the matches. There is no doubt that the tourists and the South African cricketers themselves Honorary White 78