“And with these two runs the score has become 111 and here’s David Shepherd with his right leg raised to show that the score is now ‘Nelson’...”
Have you ever seen this by yourself? A signal that one of the best cricket umpires David Shepherd used to give on all the ‘Nelson’ scores: 111, 222, 333 and so on.
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On ‘Nelson’ scores Shepherd became the centre of crowd’s attention for his unique mannerisms— hops, shuffles, jiggles and whatnot (Photo: Getty Images)[/caption]Whenever Shepherd was present in a match and Nelson multiple occurred, he became the centre of the crowd’s attention for his unique mannerisms— hops, shuffles, jiggles and whatnot.
Born today (December 27) in 1940 in the south-western county Devon of England, Shepherd umpired in 92 Tests in his 20-year career.
Although he couldn’t represent England on Test level as a player, he did play first-class cricket, representing Gloucestershire country for a long time.
After making century in his debut, he played a total of 282 matches, making 10,627 runs, including 12 centuries and 55 half-centuries, with an average of 24.47.
He started his first-class umpiring career in 1981. On international level, he appeared first time in 1983 World Cup.
A match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the tournament proved to be the starting point of his career. Later on, he umpired in the finals of 1996, 1999 and 2003 World Cups. Shepherd umpired in record six World Cups. In total, he supervised 172 one-day international matches.
The Old Trafford Test of 1985 Ashes was his first Test appearance. Later on, he umpired in 92 Tests till the end of his career and achieved fame among the cricketers and spectators not only because of his accurate decisions, but also his refined sense of humour.
Shepherd is at the fourth number in the list of umpires who supervised the most number of Tests. Only West Indies’ Steve Buckner with 128, South Africa’s Rudi Koertzen with 108 and Australia’s Daryl Harper with 95 matches are ahead of him.
The June 2005 match between Pakistan and West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica was the last Test of his career. On the last day of the match, Shepherd received a bat with signatures from Brian Lara.
The next month of the same year, Shepherd said goodbye to the cricket world by supervising his last ODI between England and Australia at The Oval, England.
| Country | Career span | Total matches | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steve Buckner |  | 1989-2009 | 128 |
| Rudi Koertzen |  | 1992-2010 | 108 |
| Daryl Harper |  | 1998-2011 | 95 |
| David Shepherd |  | 1985-2005 | 92 |
| Darrell Hair | | 1992-2008 | 78 |
| Aleem Dar |  | 2003-present | 74 |
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