Former ICC umpire David Shepherd is no more

David Shepherd, one of most renowned personalities for the cricketing fraternity, dies off prolonged Cancer illness. David Shepherd was born in Bideford, Devon on December 27, 1940.  He was initially a county player and scored more than 10000 runs in first-class cricket playing for Gloucestershire. In 1981, he was appointed as a first-class umpire and later in 1983, during the World Cup ’83. He made his test umpiring debut in 1985. He went to become the game’s one of the most respected and celebrated officials. In fact, only Steve Bucknor and Rudi Koertzen have officiated in more tests than him.

Shepherd officiated in 172 One-day internationals including 3 consecutive World cup finals and 92 Tests. He retired by the end of 2005 English summer. His last officiated international match was the 3rd One-day between Australia and England on July 12, 2005 at Bristol, indeed his home ground. On the other hand, he retired from Tests earlier itself, making the 2nd Test between West Indies and Pakistan, at Kingston played between June 3-7 2005, his last. After this match, Brian Lara presented him with a bat inscribed with a message thanking him for "the service, the memories and the professionalism". As he retired from umpiring, Shepherd returned to Devon and remained involved with his local club. He later married Jenny, his long-time partner, in 2008.

One of the best gestures he always followed while umpiring was a ‘hop’ that he made whenever ‘Nelson’ in any multiples would come into play. He was a favourite all round the globe for this ‘jig’ or ‘hop’.

On this saddening occasion, one of David’s close associate and colleague, Dickie Bird quoted, “I feel very saddened this has happened, He was a fine umpire, we spent many happy hours together. He was a great man and a tremendous man to umpire with. He was a good bloke, he'll be sadly missed.”

The current international umpires issued a statement saying many were indebted to him. “Every time we see Nelson on the scoreboard, we will be thinking of Shep's little jig and saying a quiet 'thank you' for having him as one of us. As Shep would always say to every umpire he worked with on the way out to the middle, we now say to him: ‘Good luck mate, and May your God go with you.’”

RIP David Shepherd

(December 27, 1940 – October 27, 2009)