He also played cricket for Devon Colts and England Schools, including one match against his brother captaining MCC Young Professionals at Lord's.

Mainly a middle-order batsman, and never the slimmest of men even in his younger days, he relied more on his fine shot placement than speed across the ground, and his bowling was almost non-existent: he took only two wickets in his entire first-class career.

One famous incident at the Gloucestershire Cricket Club saw Shepherd hitting the ball so hard into the crowd that it knocked out a spectator reading a newspaper.

Perhaps his most famous quirk was his habit of lifting one foot off the ground whenever the score reached 111, or multiples thereof, they being regarded as unlucky by Shepherd in a ritual dating back to his childhood cricket team days.

He considered retiring after he received much adverse press coverage in 2001, when Pakistan won the Old Trafford Test against England, after Shepherd gave three England batsmen out to no-balls bowled by Saqlain Mushtaq, who had stepped over the crease, but he was part of the ICC's first Elite Panel of neutral umpires established in 2002, and retained his place unbroken until his retirement from umpiring in 2005.

[5] His fellow umpire Simon Taufel said of him, as quoted in his Wisden obituary: "What doesn't get highlighted is man-management skills, creating a happy environment for players to play in.

"[6] Shepherd was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to cricket in the 1997 Birthday Honours,[7] and he became the President of his home county club Devon in 2006.

[8] Shepherd retired to Devon, and returned to live in the seaside village of Instow, occasionally working in his brother's post office.