David Shepherd is the world's most senior and respected cricketing umpire. For more than 20 years he has umpired tests, county games and one-day matches everywhere from Trinidad to Glamorgan. He has given Geoff Boycott out, resisted appeals from Curtley Ambrose, dodged straight drives from Sachin Tendulkar, calmed down Shane Warne and signalled leg-byes in his own uniquely elegant and justly famous style. His experience of umpiring spans three decades; the list of players he has umpired, known and counts as friends reads like a cricketing WHO'S WHO. And he is held in rare esteem and affection by virtually everyone involved in cricket. Beginning with an evocative account of Shepherd's North Devon childhood, the book then covers his entire career from playing for Devon to becoming an umpire. Containing a wealth of informed opinions on all aspects of cricket, past, present and future, it is also full of anecdotes from a man who has stayed at the centre of the game for nearly forty years, never losing his love of the game or his sense of humour.