Arguably one of the best umpires ever, David Shepherd has died due to cancer. He was 68 and had been battling the disease for some time now.
Shepherd was one of the most famous umpires in the world, thanks in part due to his impeccable umpiring and partly due to his very notable hop when the score would get to 111 or its multiples. He was an umpire in 172 ODIs, including three consecutive World Cup finals, and 92 Tests between 1983 and 2005. He first umpired in a first class game in 1981, and then in an ODI in the 1983 World Cup.
Simon Taufel spoke of how good Shepherd was as an umpire, but more importantly, he said that he was an excellent umpire. He said that even as a junior umpire in 2003-04, Shepherd treated him with great respect and shared some of his experiences with the junior. Dickie Bird, another former umpire, who stood with Shepherd on many occasions said, “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.”
Earlier, he had been a batsman for Gloucestershire for a period of 14 years, in which he played 282 games.