THE life of a great, much loved Devonian has ended with the death of David Shepherd MBE. Shep, as he was known, was born and bred in Instow, North Devon.

He left to play cricket for Gloucester County Cricket Club in 1965 where he played alongside Mike Procter, Zaheer Abbas and Sadiq Mohammed as well as his great friend from Tavistock, Jack Davey. Shep retired from playing in 1979 and went on to become a much admired test umpire.

Stuart Munday, the president of Tavistock Cricket Club, said: 'Knowing Shep was a privilege and many stories have been told about him during his career, and no doubt many more will now surface, but here is a sample to give an insight into a wonderful character.

'Early season training at Gloucester often included cross-country running, but at 17½ stone this was not a sport favoured by Shep. On one occasion he was flagging well behind his team-mates so hitched a lift on a milk float and surprised everyone by being the first to arrive back. In 1968 Gloucester acquired a new secretary who decided that Shep should look more like a professional cricketer and sent him to a health farm, where a week long healthy diet of "carrot juice and lettuce leaves" was not to Shep's liking, so on leaving the friend who collected him was ordered to the local Chinese takeaway for sweet and sour times two!'

'Shep progressed to become a world-class umpire and stood in 92 test matches and 172 1-day internationals where his famous "Nelson" became legendary and saw him hopping on one foot whenever the score reached 111, 222 or 333, as he believed this would alleviate bad luck for the batsman.

On his retirement in September 2005 Jack Davey and I were honoured to be invited to his last I-day test between Australia and England at the Oval. The match was followed by a reception attended by many well know faces including the entire Australian squad, where skipper Ricky Ponting, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne testified to what a great umpire Shep was. Plaudits from the Australians are not easily come by but Shep was admired and loved for his unbiased and straightforward honesty.

'I can't think of any other sportsman who was loved by both players and the public as much as Shep was, which is testified by the tremendous number of internet sites that have appeared in his memory.

'Our weekly conversation covered his love of cricket, rugby and horse racing and I received many a ribbing if Manchester United didn't perform well.'

Shep also supported cricket in Devon by becoming president of Devon CCC and vice president to both North Devon CC and Tavistock CC, where he played for many years in the annual president's game.

Stuart added: 'When he stopped playing, and umpiring duties allowed, he would come along in support - probably for the wonderful lunches and cream teas!

'His greatest wish was to see cricket always played, as it should be – fairly and within the rules of the game.

Stuart, perhaps speaks for the whole cricketing community in West Devon when he told the Times: 'Shep will be missed everywhere cricket is played and by all those privileged to have known him.'