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 Army cricket team South Africa Army cricket team The South Africa Army cricket team represented the British Army in South Africa, the Union of South Africa having not yet been formed at the time. The team appeared only once at first-class level. In January 1906, they played MCC at Thara Tswane, Pretoria, the only first-class match ever played there. It was a one-sided affair, with MCC winning by an innings and 218 runs. The margin might have been wider still without the efforts of Philip Mitford, playing his only first-class game: in the Army's first innings, his 65 not out was the only