DEREK Cole took 450 wickets for Devon, placing him third in the all-time bowling list for the county.

   The list is topped by Doug Yeabsley, who took 733 wickets in a career that stretched from 1959 to 1989 and who first played with Cole as a teenager.

   Yeabsley (pictured), who moved away from Exeter to teach at a school in Hertfordshire, said he had a lot to thank Cole for.

   “The contribution he and Deryck Fariclough made to cricket in Devon over so many years was huge,” said Yeabsley.

   “I was a pupil at Exeter School in the mid-1950s when I first met him properly, when he came to the school to do some coaching with Deryck Fairclough and I was in awe of him.

   “Here was this chap who performed fantastic deeds for Devon and the Minor Counties and he was prepared to spend his time coaching us youngsters.

   “When I got into the Devon side a few years later he became like a father figure to me, and to other young players.

   “Derek was a gentle, and polite man but had an inner strength that came out when he went on to a cricket pitch.

   “He set standards of sportsmanship, fair play and good behaviour that all young people could learn from – and he made sure we didn't stay up too late either.”

   Cole and Yeabsley had something in common: throughout their Devon careers they were pursued by First Class counties eager for their services.

   Somerset were still asking Cole well into his 30s to help them out when they had a shortage of players, but he always said no. Yeabsley fended off the same enquiries the same way and said the two of them had the same reasons.

   “Somerset kept asking Derek to play because he always did so well against them,” said Yeabsley.

   “There was something about playing against the professionals that brought the best out of him. He wanted to show them a talented amateur was just as good as they were and he seldom failed.

   “Like me he enjoyed his cricket, but also enjoyed what he was doing, in his case lecturing at Dartmouth Royal Naval College. He had a wife and a young family and if he was playing all the time he wouldn't enjoy his family life.”

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