DEREK Shuttleworth, one of the All Rounder Cricket Bradford Premier League's best-known umpires, has died aged 89.

The president of the league's Umpires Association passed away quietly at the Fairmount Nursing Home in Bradford on Sunday.

A former physics teacher at Hanson Grammar School, Shuttleworth earned wide respect for his no-nonsense officiating in a career which spanned 45 years and saw him take charge of more than 1,000 games.

He began umpiring in 1964 when he gave up playing. In 1968 he became chairman of the league Umpires Association, a position he held for 29 years until 1997 when he became their president.

His outstanding contribution to the Bradford League was acknowledged in 1998 when he won the Sir Leonard Hutton Trophy, and he later became a life member.

Shuttleworth was responsible for setting up the West Yorkshire Branch of Association of Cricket Umpires around 1970, a branch of which he was chairman for many years.

He was an umpire tutor for 40 years and in 1976 he assisted in establishing the branches of the Association of Cricket Umpires & Scorers (ACU&S) throughout the country.

He served ACU&S as regional training officer for the North East Region and was chairman of the training committee. He was also a qualified scorer tutor.

His work for umpiring saw him win the ECBACO's Lifetime Achiever Award in 2012 and in 2018 he received the Yorkshire Cricket Board OSCA for officiating for the second time.

When ill health prevented him for standing for long periods of time, he swapped his umpire's coat for a place in the scorebox at Bankfoot. Despite being 80 years old and having never used a computer, he learned laptop scoring and enjoyed the challenge.

A single man, cricket was his life, a fact reflected in the tributes that have been paid to him.

League chairman David Young said: "Derek has been a magnificent servant of Bradford League cricket. Both as an umpire and a scorer he was hugely respected. Derek will be sorely missed by all who knew him."

Philip Radcliffe, the current chairman of the Umpires Association, said: "His knowledge of the laws of cricket was immense, and he passed this on to many new umpires both in the league and beyond.

"The Bradford League has lost one of its 'greats', but Derek's memory will live on and we can carry on the unselfish work that he started.”