David Shepherd, one of the greatest cricketing umpires, is no more. He died on Oct 28 after a long battle with cancer.

This is a tribute to the man and a life dedicated to honest cricketing.

David Shepherd was easily recognizable in the cricket field. His bulk and rotundity with a silvery shock of hair could hardly escape any eye.

But if you still had your doubts if the man carefully scrutinizing every ball is indeed David Shepherd then you could wait till the scoreboard said 111 — or some multiple of it.

In cricketing terms that is a “Nelson,” and is widely believed to be an unlucky number.

Shepherd was a devout follower of the superstition and kept one foot off the ground for as long as the fateful number remained on the scoreboard. To ward off ill fortune.

An umpire needs to have two things in his favour for the world to say he was one of the greatest of all times. He has to give consistent right decisions and also to earn the trust of players.

David Shepherd had both, which made him one of the all time greatest. And with amazing mental and physical fitness he stayed at the top until statutory retirement age.

Shephard and a period of transition

The man is no more and with him died the glory days of cricket, in a sense.

Earlier, cricket was played (and watched) for glory, pride and everything that went with national honour.

That was the time when each series was anticipated months in advance by both players and viewers; when guys used to get up at 4 in the morning for 5 consecutive days to watch India play in Australia.

Times changed and Shepherd witnessed the drastic changes from close quarters. He accepted the changes and came to terms with the technologically-aided umpiring but those were just tip of the change iceberg.

The onslaught of cricket is so frequent that keeping pace has become a constraint. The players and the fans are facing the threat of saturation and burn out. Something Shepherd would rather die before witnessing.

Cricket, in its current form, is all about delivering eyeballs to advertisers.

Advertisers miffed over cricket losing it sheen

The red flags for advertisers and media buyers eyeing cricket tournaments are out in the open.

That the Indian public's interest has worn down is apparent from the ratings for the recently concluded 50-over Champions Trophy from South Africa.

Only 1.1 per cent of satellite TV owners tuned in which says that Indian interest has dropped dangerously.

Another worthy example is the recently concluded inaugural Champions League T20. It is reported that several advertisers that signed on-air advertising deals with ESPN Star Sports are discontent about the failure of the tournament to attract enough eyeballs despite being a T20 format tournament.

Many advertisers are either withdrawing their advertising rupees out of next year’s tournament or are negotiating massive discounts for next year.

Advertisers returning home

Sponsors are rapidly abandoning overseas cricket coverage in favour of India's home matches, regarded as the safest bet for advertisers.

The trend is so serious that it prompted former Indian allrounder and longtime cricket commentator Ravi Shastri to say that he was not surprised to see advertisers using their money more shrewdly.

This explains the rush to secure an advertising slot in the Season 3 of IPL, which is returning to India after last year’s season in South Africa.

Big names have already signed up and the broadcaster is expected to earn an estimated Rs 600-625 crore as advertising revenues, up from an estimated Rs 500 crore in the second season.

TV commercial slots are going at estimated Rs 4.75 lakh per 10 seconds compared to an estimated Rs 4 lakh per ten second in the last season.

Domestic market is still the cash cow for cricketing moguls and their advertising partners. But if the current trend of viewer burn-out picks pace these businesspeople would have to go on one leg like David Shepherd to ward of the ill-fortunes.

RIP David Shepherd, the last example of the glory days of honest cricketing.

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