David Sheppard his clerical career and declined to tour unless required as a captain. In 1956 he was recalled to play Australia and made 113 in the Fourth Test at Old Trafford, where Jim Laker famously took 19 wickets and England won by an innings. He refused to play against the touring South Africans in 1960, and was a vocal opponent of the proposed MCC tour in 1968–69 which was ultimately cancelled after the South African government refused to allow Basil D'Oliveira to play. Sheppard was willing to take a sabbatical from his church mission in the East End in order to
South Africa national cricket team with 9 wickets at 22.33. The series is widely recognized as the one which heralded the arrival of South Africa as a major force on the international cricket scene. The MCC duly complied by inviting the South African team to tour England in 1907 for the first time to play official Tests. Though the series finished 1–0 to England with two draws, the quartet of Schwarz, Faulkner, Vogler and White were praised for their exceptional quality of googly bowling, and Schwarz and Vogler came to be recognized as "Wisden" Cricketers of the Year the following year – the first South