His first recorded game was as a 19 year old in 1844 and he continued to play regularly for Mitcham. He was a right arm fast bowler, ending his career (82 1st class matches) with 344 wickets at 14.95. Wicket-keeper Herbert Strudwick asked him about his bowling,

"You were a fast bowler in your day?"

"Yes, one of the fastest"

"Well how would you compare with Tom Richardson?"

"Oh, I was nothing like as fast. Tom Richardson is the fastest and best bowler I've ever seen."

Sherman, of course, was no slouch. Charles Lawrence, captain-coach of the 1866 Aboriginal Tour of England, the 1st ever tour of England by an Australian team, said of him,

"when I think of him now, I can safely say his delivery was the most perfect I have ever seen ..."

Sherman turned out regularly for Surrey, bat he played for Lancashire in 1851 (his uncle's adopted county) and for a variety of England XIs, including sides selected by William "Old" Clarke. He himself had a go at running professional sides, the new All England XI from 1858 to 1862 and the new United South of England XI in 1875-76.

He lived in a Mitcham and the surrounding area most of his life. In the 1851 Census he is recorded living in London Road with his mother and 2 sisters, occupation block cutter. Ten years later he is married to Emily Bass and working as a shoemaker in Wallington. Then in 1871 and 1881 he is back in Mitcham, in Queens Road with four children.

Having ended his Surrey cricket career as a player in 1870, Sherman coached cricket at several leading schools, including Elton and Harrow.

He died aged 85 in 1911, from pneumonia developed after being knocked down by a pony and trap in St.Mark's Road, Mitcham.