Stephenson in turn was recruited by Somerset in 1948, having been recommended to the county by Micky Walford, the amateur batsman and schoolmaster who also came from Stockton.
Wisden said that he "exceeded expectations" and added: "Some of his stumpings off the slow bowlers were remarkably clever and quick enough to suggest optical tests for umpires.
In the mid-1950s, he was batting higher in the order, often at No 3, though this was partly due to the weakness of the Somerset side, which finished bottom of the County Championship for four consecutive seasons from 1952 to 1955.
Playing for a weak team may not have helped Stephenson's representative career, though England were not short of outstanding wicketkeepers in this period.
Candidates to succeed Tremlett included Colin McCool and Bill Alley, two Australians associated with Somerset's recent successes, but 44 and 41 years old respectively.
Combative and chatty, Stephenson stayed in the captain's job for five seasons and was successful: in 1963 he led the side to third place in the County Championship, equalling the best-ever and the team, which had relied across the 1950s primarily on spin for wickets, developed in Ken Palmer and Fred Rumsey two fast bowlers good enough to play fleetingly for England.
In his absence, the side was captained by the veteran Australian Alley, and Peter Eele, who had deputised for Stephenson in the injury-hit 1958 season, returned to keep wicket.
[1] A dapper, chatty cricketer with pads that always appeared a size too big for him,[6] Stephenson was known throughout his county career as "Steve".
"[7] The fast-medium bowler Ken Biddulph, also from County Durham, called Stephenson a "brilliant keeper: I never saw him have a bad day".
He "batted with an exciting, slightly reckless relish that seldom rejected the gamble of a perilously possible single," says the history of Somerset cricket.
[6] As late as his final full season in 1963, he set a ninth-wicket partnership record of 183 with Chris Greetham that has been equalled, but not beaten, for Somerset, making 80 when batting at No 10 at Weston-super-Mare against Leicestershire.
Cricket writer David Foot in an obituary of Stephenson reported "one corrosive exchange with the county chairman, Bunty Longrigg".