With over 1500 wickets in domestic cricket across formats, John Shepherd was a giant performer. A swing bowler of relentless accuracy, he wasn’t as quick as you would expect a West Indian fast bowler to be. Therefore, he often lost out in competition to spots for the national team and barely played any Test cricket. Due to his strictly moderate speeds and overreliance on swing, Shepherd wasn’t as comfortable bowling on tracks that were batting-friendly. Batsmen were more than willing to be patient with him and he didn’t have the x-factor to break through. In domestic cricket though, Shepherd’s stump-to- stump lines were more than enough, and he achieved rich success across countries. His biggest stint came in England where he served Kent with distinction for a decade-and-a-half. After his playing days, Shepherd took to cricket administration in Antigua.

Written by Hariprasad Sadanandan