Thread by @RandomCricketP1

There was something comforting about seeing Umpire David Shepherd go about his business on the cricket field if you were watching the game in the 90s and early 2000s. With his benevolent father-like aura, he not only seemed to be always in control of the proceedings, but his

gentle smile seemed to have enough to defuse any tension simmering on the cricket field. And, of course, there was the famous little hop when the score reached 111 that made everyone at the ground smile.

But not too many were smiling on 4th June 2001. Definitely not Shepherd.

The day began with England needing 285 runs to win the Manchester Test against Pakistan, having shaved off 85 from the target of 370 . It looked like a tall task against a bowling attack made up of Waqar, Wasim and Saqlain but the opening pair of Atherton and Trescothick looked

looked largely untroubled as they took the score close to 150. The match seemed to be heading to a cracking finish and the chances of England winning the series 2-0 also looked bright at this stage. Post lunch, though, after Atherton and Vaughan's fall, England seemed to have

to settle for a draw and win the series 1-0. At Tea, they had 8 wickets left. But then the game began to change. Pakistan got 4 wickets in 13 balls, three of which were no-balls that Umpire Shepherd and Ed Nicholls had missed. To make it worse, Dominic Cork who had resisted for

10 overs with Darren Gough also fell lbw to Saqlain when the bowler had clearly over-stepped. Once again, it was Shepherd who was the umpire. Two balls later England lost the match after giving away 8 wickets in the final session, out of which four came of no-balls that the

Umpires failed to spot. Shepherd gave 3 out of those 4 decisions. And suddenly, for all those who had tuned in earlier in the day hoping for an England win, he had become the villain. Shepherd himself was upset at what had happened and almost in tears according to Ray Julian, who

was the 3rd umpire for the match. In fact, on that very day, he decided he wanted to give up umpiring, something he had been doing for the last 20 years of his life. On the following days, the sensitive man who referred to himself as the 'Fat boy from Devon' found himself at the

receiving end of a lot of criticism from the media as well. As a man who used to deliver newspapers when not umpiring, he probably read a fair bit of what was written about his umpiring in the match.

But his colleagues and the players who had worked with him for a long time

knew better. Stewart, who was the English captain for the match, downplayed the umpiring errors. Atherton spoke to Shep at length and assured him that it was all irrelevant. Matthew Hayden who was in England for the Ashes reached out to him to tell him how everyone loves him and

he should just hang in there. Better sense prevailed and Shepherd decided to continue. He later said, "I'd have been extremely disappointed to go out at that point." He finally retired from umpiring in 2005 as one of the best umpires of the game. He passed away in 2009.

For me, this episode is beautiful because of how the players stood by Shepherd in his difficult times which speaks volumes of the goodwill he had earned in his long association with the game. They understood that it was only human for him to have one bad day and even though it

made a difference in the result, it was not something to leave the game for someone who had been a servant of the game for close to 40 years. It also tells how the know it all umpire on the field sometimes do lose perspective and cricketers who know a thing or two about being in

firing line all the timen can and do help the umpires with their own perspective. It's a measure of his popularity that teams would give him a guard of honour in their last Test with him. In hindsight, that's the only way this servant of the game deserved to leave the stage.