REMEMBERING DAVID SHEPHERD: A LEGEND

It was a dull day for me yesterday and nothing was in its place, I was not feeling happy and well when I came to know about the sad demise of the great “David Shepherd”, it was more pain. All my life I have grown seeing this “Legend” of an umpire on the Cricket field with his near perfect umpiring expertise and rather the odd Nelson jig which has always been his signature move. His demise was a shock.

David Shepherd was one of those cricketing personalitites who with his honesty, integrity and perseverance took the game to high sporting standards. With his roly poly appearance and with his jovial behaviour Shepherd was always a treat to watch.Shepherd holds the distinction of officiating three World cup Finals at Lahore, Lord’s and Johannesburg. Shepherd officiated in 172 ODIs and 92 tests between 1983 and 2005.

Shepherd started his cricketing career with a bang as he scored a hundred at his First class debut for Gloucestershire against Oxford Universities but his career as a player was never set rolling although he scored 12 centuries to prove his mettle with the bat .Shepherd turned to umpiring in 1981 and later in 1985 he had his first assignment at the International level and since then he has always been a favorite.

Shepherd can be thought of sometimes a taskmaster where in one could see his displeasure or discomfort for excessively appealing bowlers. I personally have seen him frown for some appeals where even the bowlers knew that it was’nt out and still went on appealing and the look on Shepherd’s face used to say it all.

Throughout his career he maintained good record and arguably maintained very high accuracy. Never one could ever think of Shepherd give a wrong decision. He was a strong willed man and knew what his job was.Standing in three consecutive finals is not an easy job and when one does that job with no hassles, it speaks a lot about the person’s credentials.

But towards the end of his career somewhere in 2001, he was criticized for overlooking “Saqlain Mushtaq’s” no balls which earned him wickets which made Shepherd think of resigning, such was his level of commitment. Letters from friends and relatives and continous pleading from well wishers made him revert his decision.

Even when he was standing in his last match at West Indies his professionalism was honoured by none other than Brian lara who presented him with a cricket bat. Also he was always looked and honoured as a gentleman who knew his job pretty well.

But the most striking part of his personality was his famous “Jig” whenever the Scoreboards showed :Nelson” (i.e 111 or its multiples). The entire English crowd would wait for the scoreboard to show Nelson and would instantly enjoy the famous jig.

The crowds loved him, the commentators loved him and so did the Purists. He was not after introducing “Technology” in the game initially but later accepted that it cannot be ignored.
Cricket has lost its old statesman and one of the Umpiring Greats.In short he was education for all the new age umpires who have followed him and try to match his level of expertise and sportsmanship.

It was a pleasure to write about a Legend and I offer my condolences to his family and ask the Supreme lord to give strength to his freinds and family during these testing times. May his soul rest in peace.

Dave, We shall always miss you and your famous “Nelson”..