Lives in Cricket No 10 - John Shepherd

1975 The Kent dressing room at the beginning of the 1975 season was something of a recovery ward for the Aussie-bashed warriors: the Test-experienced contingent was to be increased further by the end of the season after Bob Woolmer made his debut against Australia. In September Kent played Surrey with nine Test cricketers in their side (Luckhurst, Asif Iqbal, Woolmer, Denness, Julien, Cowdrey, Shepherd, Knott and Underwood). But, as in 1974, whilst there was ample batting strength the bowling was again to rely heavily on John Shepherd who bowled more overs than anyone else both in first-class and in one-day matches. Over the season as a whole, in all matches, Shep bowled in 55 of Kent’s opponents’ innings and, remarkably, took wickets in all but 18 of them. For Kent the season was to be a disappointment with, for the first time since 1971, moderate performances by their high standards in each of the leagues – fifth in the Championship and third in the Sunday League – and early dismissals from both of the knock-out tournaments. One of the more remarkable matches of John Shepherd’s career took place on 17 and 19 May 1975 at Lord’s against Middlesex. In a Benson and Hedges group match that was interrupted and delayed by rain Kent, batting first on a treacherous wicket, slumped to 53 for eight when Derek Underwood joined Shepherd at the wicket. Together they eked out another 81 runs of which Underwood’s contribution to the record 113 ninth-wicket partnership was 10. When Shep was finally out, caught at wide mid-on in the last of the 55 overs, he had reached 96, which was 70% of Kent’s final meagre total of 137. Alan Gibson in The Times recorded that one of Shepherd’s sixes ‘ … nearly knocked down the scoreboard over the grandstand, although this was accidental rather than deliberate, as it should be in a well-ordered cricket society’. 114 . Then, when Middlesex batted, Shepherd not only took three for 21 in eleven overs but also broke a partnership of 89 between Barlow and Featherstone which had seemed to be winning the match for Middlesex – Shepherd dismissed both of them. Derek Underwood remembers this as a match which ‘Shep took by the scruff of the neck, shook it and turned it 180 degrees around’. 115 Shepherd was made ‘Man of the Match’ for the first time in his career. One of the great social features of Kent cricket has always been the ‘weeks’ of cricket at Tunbridge Wells, Canterbury and Maidstone, when the grounds surrounded by white marquees take on a blissfully English ambience – especially if blessed with fine weather. In 1975 the Maidstone week in mid-June was so blessed but Kent were without six key players (Asif Iqbal, Julien, Denness, Knott, Underwood, and Woolmer) who were on World Cup duty with their respective countries. Perhaps it was the feeling that if things had worked out differently with the West Indies he would The Consummate Professional 87 113 This remains the Kent record for the ninth wicket in all limited-overs matches (of which there had been 885 by the end of the 2008 season). 114 The Times , 20 May 1975. 115 Interview with the author, 24 September 2008.