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   Exmouth's Nick Folland, who hit Oxfordshire for an unbeaten 249 at Torquay in 1999, eventually broke the high-score record. Cole, by then county president, was there to see it happen and among the first to congratulate his successor.

   Folland also broke Cole's career tally of 8,153 runs by the time he packed in. But he was never able to better Cole's record of three MCCA centuries in the same season, although he did match it.

   By the time Cole succeeded Deryck Fairclough as county captain in 1962 he was more of a batsman than a bowler. As late as 1966 he was topping 500 Minor Counties runs for the season.

   The whippy seamer of old was an off-spin bowler now, keeping it tight but not picking up too many wickets. However, the old magic surfaced occasionally, as Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Cornwall found out in 1968.

   Devon played three fixtures one after the other in the same week and Cole's figures for the lot were 23 wickets for 139 runs. He had four and five-wicket hauls against Oxfordshire, five wickets twice against Wiltshire and four for 35 against Cornwall as Devon finished second in the table behind Yorkshire IIs.

   Cole stood down as captain at the end of the 1969 season, handing over to Gerald Trump, but played through 1970 before retiring for good.

   He departed after his final game against Oxfordshire at Exmouth with a career batting average of 34.4 and 450 wickets at an average of 16.82 which puts him third in the all-time Devon rankings.

   When not playing cricket, Cole could be found in the classroom at Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, where he lectured officer cadets in science subjects between 1955-1985, rising to the position of deputy director of studies.

Bill Lawry of the 1968 Australians signs the visitors book at Torquay Town Hall watched by Derek Cole (left)

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