Book Of The Year Award > 2010 > John Shepherd
JOHN SHEPHERD The Loyal Cavalier
Paddy Briggs

The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians have, in the past, put together a long series of purely statistical biographies but have now branched out into a more genuinely biographical format. One of the first ventures concerns John Shepherd, a Barbadian, who made his name first with Kent and then with the West Indies national team, going on to play successfully for Gloucestershire and rather more controversially, on South African tours.

The sub-title of the book sums up John Shepherd very well. Wherever he played, he gave his all and was immensely popular not just for his wholeheartedness but for the manner of his cricket. Although too late for the full Cavaliers teams that preceded the Sunday League, he did play both for and against International Cavaliers teams and was exactly the kind of player that crowds would flock to see when county cricket was going through its grinding phase in the 1960's.

Paddy Briggs gives us an essentially playing biography, with great emphasis on the Kent years where John Shepherd was at his peak but fills in the gaps with details of life outside cricket, which includes some personal tragedies that could have derailed a less positive character. It's noticeable that John's qualification period with Kent was helped no end by Club and Ground matches, which have fallen into disfavour but still must be an ideal opportunity to give talented non-staff members a trial to properly estimate their abilities. The overall picture is of a man who was profoundly happy to make his career doing something that brought him great joy and this was reflected in the manner of his play and his reception by spectators.

As for his Test career, John Shepherd can be said to have been fortunate to make his name in the time when the West Indies were between sets of fast bowlers and all-rounders. His debut in the 1969 series saw him as back-up to an attack spearheaded by Gary Sobers, bowling his left-arm fast stuff and Vanburn Holder, a reliable but not express paceman. The other options were Grayson Shillingford, who didn't really train on, Maurice Foster, who still holds the record for the longest run-up ever of a medium-fast bowler and Philbert Blair and Pascall Roberts, neither of who ever played Test cricket. That being said, John Shepherd made his mark during the county matches before the Test series and won his place on merit without ever nailing down a secure position. He returned to the Test side against India in the West Indies as first change to Sobers and Ulton Dowe, he of the eleventh commandment, "Dowe shalt not bowl" as chorused by West Indian supporters later in his career and then concentrated on county cricket, together with some forays to South Africa and Rhodesia, a subject which still divides players and spectators to this day.

So what we have here is a decent book about a very decent man. Cast off by Kent in 1981 he made his point clearly and quietly by taking over 200 first-class wickets and scoring over 2,000 runs for Gloucestershire in the next three years. Now settled in England and still enjoying life, this is a nice tribute to a fine cricketer.

review by John Symons

Publisher
ACS Publications,
ACS Sales,
Blue Bell House,
2-4 Main Street,
Scredington,
Sleaford,
Lincolnshire,
NG34 0AE
£12