Don Shepherd died on Friday, less than a week after turning 90, thus ending a lifelong love affair with Glamorgan cricket. The feeling was very much reciprocated. John Arlott chose Shepherd as his first bowler in the best XI to never play for England, and with good reason. Starting out as a seamer before switching to off-cutters, he took 2,218 first-class wickets in 668 matches between 1950 and 1972. That places him 22nd in the all-time list; all those above him played Test cricket, and all but one, Derek Underwood, are dead. For
Authentic Steven Matz Womens Jersey Arlott his non-selection was “inexplicable”. That word feels fitting. The Joy of Six: Wimbledon wildcards Read more Shepherd was better humoured about the whole thing. He recently sounded fit as a fiddle in a lovely interview with BBC Wales’s Nick Webb to mark becoming a nonagenarian, discussing his life in the game (his good humour, kindness and gentle Welsh burr made him a much-loved commentator for that station for three decades after his retirement from playing). “It never worried me,” he said of the snub. “There were so many terrific off-spinners around towards the end – Fred Titmus, David Allen, John Mortimore, Ray Illingworth – and they could bat, while I was a bit of a slogger. I was happy enough doing what I did and what happened to me through my life.” He was content with his monumental contribution to Glamorgan and he had his moments in the sun against international opposition; he beat South Africa, Pakistan, India and Australia playing for the Welsh county. The Aussies were downed twice; in 1964, he took nine for 93 from 69 overs, and 1968 he was the captain. Richie Benaud, the Australia captain when they drew with Glamorgan in 1961 and Shepherd’s hectic hitting brought him 51 in 11 scoring shots, was a big fan, and was certain he would not have gone uncapped if he were Australian. The closest he came to an England call was a tour of Ceylon and the far east with MCC in 1969, the year his wicket sealed Glamorgan’s second County Championship title (there has been just one more since). They were unbeaten and Shepherd was named one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year for his efforts, too. By then he had been a slow bowler for more than a decade. He took 155 wickets in 1952 as a seamer, but a loss of form followed, as well as a memorable line from his tough captain, Wilf Wooller, of Shepherd’s teetotalism. “You’ll never bowl quick on orangeade,” he said. So he switched, to spin (and ale), and picked up 168 wickets in 1956. He never looked back, and became a terror on uncovered pitches. There have been some beautiful tributes since his death, not least from Edward Bevan, his friend and co-commentator
http://www.officialmetsproshop.com/Stolmy_Pimentel_Jerseyfor many years. Beyond the remarkable numbers, longevity and love of the game, they tell of a gentleman, who never spurned an autograph and never forgot where he was from. Robert Croft, who was mentored by Shepherd and did end up playing for England, put it rather nicely: “Some never meet their heroes, I luckily did and Shep was 100 times moreSomerset are a helpful county for pieces such as this. Perhaps it’s the fact that none of them are title winners, that perennial nearliness, or just the friendly, free-wheeling West Country-ness of it all. It’s not three years since Andy Bull, on this website, wrote an edition of the Spin entitled “Peter Trego, king of the cult cricketers”, while among Trego’s current team-mates a case could be made for James Hildreth and even Marcus Trescothick. Throwing back 30 years and more, there was Colin Dredge, the Demon of Frome, an uphill-into-the-wind-er for the ages with an ugly action, a huge heart and seven brothers (who all played for Frome, where Dredge still lives). The Demon, his increasingly worried team-mates remember, once arrived at the County Ground peculiarly late. An hour or so after the start, Dredge appeared and wandered on to the field to a series of concerned questions. “It’s pissing down in Frome,” he responded. Frome, of course, is about 90 minutes from Taunton. Mentioning big-hearted Somerset cricketers sees us segue seamlessly to Ian Blackwell. It feels appropriate, for one reason or another, that Blackwell would
http://www.officialmarinershop.com/Felix_Hernandez_Jerseybe the answer to a rather good pub quiz question. Something along the lines of: who was the “one-cap blunder” (Wisden’s words, not the Guardian’s …) who made his Test debut alongside Alastair Cook and Monty Panesar in Nagpur in 2006? The Joy of Six: boxing and UFC comebacks from the canvas Read more Blackwell weighed 17 stone at that stage and candidly explained to the press how he felt he could have achieved more were he not so prone to a ham and cheese toastie. His nine-year stint at Somerset (he had started out at Derbyshire, where he fell out bitterly with Dominic Cork) would end when Justin Langer, the captain, told him to shift some timber, and he chose to shift his timber all the way to Durham instead. Injury ended his career in 2013 and he’s now rising up the umpiring ranks. Whatever his weight, a hefty case could be made for Blackwell being the premier all-rounder in county cricket in the noughties. In first-class cricket he averaged a tick shy of 40 with the bat and took 398 wickets. That one Test didn’t go as hoped (four runs, no wickets), but he had his moments in ODI cricket, such as 82 off 68 in his second match, against India at the Champions Trophy in 2002 (although that was weighed against one run in four innings, including three
Hisashi Iwakuma Youth Jerseysuccessive ducks, against Australia the following January). That matters not, though. He’ll be remembered for the flair-filled, bar-emptying batting (he made 204 off 98 balls between lunch and tea against Derbyshire – captained, of course, by Cork – in 2003), as well as his flat-footed, stingy spinners. 2003 was a sorry summer for Somerset, but Bull remembers how his lusty hitting lit up its end, not just with that Derbyshire double-ton, but 140 against Hampshire and 189 in Northamptonshire, all in consecutive home matches. When Blackwell sidled out to bat at Taunton, there was an anticipation and a wonder about what the hell would happened next. And, as fans of cricket, there’s little more we can ask for than that
