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Full name David John Constant
Born November 9, 1941, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire
Current age 66 years 258 days
Major teams Kent,Leicestershire
Nickname Connie
Batting style Left-hand bat
Bowling style Slow left-arm orthodox
Other Umpire
Relations Father-in-law - GEE Lambert
Batting and fielding averages
Mat
Inns
NO
Runs
HS
Ave
100
50
Ct
St
First-class
61
93
14
1517
80
19.20
0
6
33
0
List A
1
1
0
5
5
5.00
0
0
0
0
Bowling averages
Mat
Balls
Runs
Wkts
BBI
BBM
Ave
Econ
SR
4w
5w
10
First-class
61
75
36
1
1/28
36.00
2.88
75.0
0
0
List A
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Career statistics
First-class span
1961 - 1968
List A span
1967 - 1967
Umpiring statistics
Test debut
England v Pakistan at Leeds, Jul 8-13, 1971 scorecard
Last Test
England v Sri Lanka at Lord's, Aug 25-30, 1988 scorecard
Test matches
36
Test statistics
ODI debut
England v Australia at Birmingham, Aug 28, 1972 scorecard
Last ODI
England v Australia at The Oval, Jun 21, 2001 scorecard
ODI matches
33
ODI statistics
Profile
David Constant was a talented schoolboy cricketer who abandoned his ambitions as a player after spells with Kent and Leicestershire to become an umpire, joining the first-class list at the age of 27 in 1969 after retiring as a player the previous September.
From there, he immediately established a good reputation and in 1971, aged 29, he was elevated to the Test panel, standing against Pakistan at Headingley. From there he became an ever present on the Test panel, an official regarded as firm but fair.
However, in 1982 he fell foul of Pakistan after a contentious decision in the deciding Test, and the Pakistanis objected to him standing on their next tour in 1987 but the ECB refused to back down. Constant was again the target of the tourists' ire in that series as well, but he stood in his last Test in 1988 and only featured in a handful of ODIs before his final match in 2001. But he retained his composure and his reputation on the English circuit.
Martin Williamson
The retirement of David Constant means that county cricket has lost its longest-ever serving umpire; his final season was his 38th on the list. After an indifferent career as a left-hand bat for Kent and Leicestershire, he became a Test umpire when still only 29.
And for almost two decades Bird and Constant were accepted as the top two umpires in the English game. But - a sign of things to come - Constant found his career hindered by distrust from Asian teams, harking back to a decision in the Pakistan series of 1982,
and he umpired his last Test in 1988, when he was just 46.
He remained highly regarded in England - and very sensitive, taking bad behaviour on the field personally. He was in tears at the end of a fractious 1997 NatWest semi-final between Essex and Glamorgan in which Robert Croft and Mark Ilott squared up to
each other.
Angus Fraser, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
