David Robert Shepherd (27 December 1940 – 27 October 2009) was a

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

er who played

county cricket Inter-county cricket matches are known to have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Since the late 19th century, there have been two county championship ...

for

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, and later became one of the

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

world's best-known

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

s. He stood in 92 Test matches, the last of them in June 2005, the most for any English umpire. He also umpired 172 ODIs, including three consecutive World Cup finals in 1996, 1999 and 2003.

Early life

Shepherd was born in Bideford in Devon. His father Herbert was a sub-

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

, having earlier worked in the Merchant Navy. His father had played cricket and rugby in his youth, and became an umpire for North Devon Cricket Club after losing the sight in one eye in the First World War. Shepherd's brother Bill was also a cricketer who captained MCC Young Professionals, but became postmaster at his parents' post office in

Instow Instow is a village in north Devon, England. It is on the estuary where the rivers Taw and Torridge meet, between the villages of Westleigh and Yelland and on the opposite bank to Appledore. There is an electoral ward with the same name. The w ...

in the 1960s, playing club and the Minor Counties cricket. He was educated at

Barnstaple Grammar School The Park Community School is a coeducational secondary school located in Barnstaple, Devon, England. History and houses It was founded in 1910 as Barnstaple Grammar School, and was the first secondary school to be built by Devon County Counci ...

, where he played for the school first XI from the second form and became head boy. He then studied at

St Luke's College, Exeter St Luke's Campus is a small university campus which is part of the University of Exeter. The School of Sport and Health Sciences, the Graduate School of Education, and the Medical School are all based at St Luke's. St Luke's is also home to the ...

. He also played cricket for Devon Colts and England Schools, including one match against his brother captaining MCC Young Professionals at Lord's. He became a teacher in Bideford and Ilfracombe, also playing Minor Counties cricket for

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

from 1959 to 1964, mainly as a batsman.

Playing career

After scoring 100 not out for Gloucestershire's Second XI in 1964, Shepherd had a reasonably successful, though late-starting, first-class playing career for

, stretching from 1965 to 1979, and though he never came close to international selection he was popular both with his teammates and the Gloucestershire supporters. He started with a bang, scoring 108 on debut against

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in April 1965, and made eleven more hundreds over the years, though only twice (in 1969 and 1975) did he

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

over 30. Mainly a middle-order batsman, and never the slimmest of men even in his younger days, he relied more on his fine shot placement than speed across the ground, and his bowling was almost non-existent: he took only two wickets in his entire first-class career. One famous incident at the Gloucestershire Cricket Club saw Shepherd hitting the ball so hard into the crowd that it knocked out a spectator reading a newspaper. The spectator was taken to hospital and recovered with only minor injuries.

Umpire

After retiring from his playing career in 1979, Shepherd decided against becoming a coach, and decided to become an umpire instead. He began his second career in cricket, and the one which was to make him world-famous, when he was appointed as a first-class umpire in 1981. Quickly recognised as being one of the fairest-minded and most able officials in the game, within two years he was part of the umpiring panel for the 1983 World Cup, and within four he was standing in his first Test: the fourth Test of the 1985

Ashes Ashes may refer to: *Ash, the solid remnants of fires. Media and entertainment Art * ''Ashes'' (Munch), an 1894 painting by Edvard Munch Film * ''The Ashes'' (film), a 1965 Polish film by director Andrzej Wajda * ''Ashes'' (1922 film), a ...

series at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

. Standing with him in this Test was

Dickie Bird Harold Dennis "Dickie" Bird, (born 19 April 1933), is an English retired international cricket umpire. During his long umpiring career, he became a much-loved figure among players and viewing public, due to his excellence as an umpire, but al ...

. From then on, Shepherd became a fixture on the international scene, his round figure instantly recognisable by players and spectators alike. Perhaps his most famous quirk was his habit of lifting one foot off the ground whenever the score reached 111, or multiples thereof, they being regarded as unlucky by Shepherd in a ritual dating back to his childhood cricket team days. The number 111 is known as the " Nelson", and is considered unlucky for the batsman. Among other superstitions, he would tie a matchstick to a finger on Friday 13th, so he would be

touching wood Touching Wood (1979–2004) was an American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire best known for winning the classic St Leger Stakes in 1982. Touching Wood was still a maiden when he finished second to Golden Fleece in the 198 ...

to bring good luck all day. Also famous was his tendency to shake his hand while signalling fours; to this day, many fans in cricket crowds mimic his action while celebrating fours. If the situation demanded, Shepherd could be very firm, notably when initially warning the Pakistan captain, Waqar Younis, in the 2003 World Cup against Australia for bowling fast '

beamers In cricket, a beamer (less commonly beam ball) is a type of delivery in which the ball, without bouncing, passes above the batsman's waist height. This kind of delivery is dangerous, as a batter will be expecting the ball to bounce on the pitch. ...

' (a

full toss A full toss is a type of delivery in the sport of cricket. It describes any delivery that reaches the batsman without bouncing on the pitch first. A full toss which reaches the batsman above the waist is called a beamer. This is not a valid d ...

that reaches the batsman between waist and head height, being dangerous as it is extremely hard to detect for the batsman). Waqar again transgressed and Shepherd ordered his removal from the attack becoming the first umpire to take such an action during an international match. He considered retiring after he received much adverse press coverage in 2001, when Pakistan won the Old Trafford Test against England, after Shepherd gave three England batsmen out to no-balls bowled by Saqlain Mushtaq, who had stepped over the crease, but he was part of the ICC's first Elite Panel of neutral umpires established in 2002, and retained his place unbroken until his retirement from umpiring in 2005. As his retirement loomed, Shepherd was lauded wherever he went. He was given a guard of honour by the

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and Australian teams during the series between the two countries in March 2005. After his last Test, that between

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...

in June 2005, Shepherd was presented with a bat by West Indian captain

Brian Lara Brian Charles Lara, (born 2 May 1969) is a Trinidadian former international cricketer, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest batsmen of all time. He topped the Test batting rankings on several occasions and holds several cricketing reco ...

. He was in fact given special dispensation by the ICC to umpire in an

match between England and Australia at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

as his final Test, but turned down the opportunity to maintain the ICC's neutral umpiring policy for Test matches. His fellow umpire Simon Taufel said of him, as quoted in his '' Wisden'' obituary: "What doesn't get highlighted is man-management skills, creating a happy environment for players to play in. And Shep was magnificent at that. The players had this enormous respect for him as a person. He put them at their ease and forged relationships that crossed all cultural and political divides." In that obituary, the obituarist himself wrote: "The authorities struggle for a definition of the

Spirit of Cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cricket), bails b ...

. Perhaps the best answer is David Shepherd."
/ref> Shepherd was awarded the Order of the British Empire, MBE for services to cricket in 1987, and he became the President of his home county club

in 2006. Shepherd was the first umpire to officiate in at least one Test match in all the nations playing Test cricket at that time.

Later life

Shepherd retired to Devon, and returned to live in the seaside village of

, occasionally working in his brother's post office. He was married to Jenny, his partner since 1973, in 2008. He died of lung cancer on 27 October 2009 in Devon.David Shepherd: Hugely respected doyen of English cricket umpires who stood in three successive World Cup Finals
The Independent, 29 October 2009

References

External links