DEVON League chairman Stuart Munday died last night at his home in Plympton after a finally succumbing to cancer. He was 72.

Munday, a retired businessman, fought the illness with the same determination he showed on the cricket field for more than half a century.

A minute’s silence as a mark of respecct to Munday will be observed this morning (Sunday) prior to Devon’s game against Oxfordshire at Sidmouth.

Munday was a man of many parts, not just chairman of the Devon Cricket League.

He was  treasurer of the  old David Shepherd Cricket Foundation, a trustee of its successor organisaton the Davi Shepherd Cricket Trust, a Devon CCC committee man, player and treasurer of Devon Over 60s CC and a lifelong player and supporter of Tavistock CC.

Munday captained the 1st and 2nd XIs, served as chairman and latterly was an active president.

He stepped down as captain of the Devon Over-60s’s 2nd XI in 2015, having steered them to six finals and won three of them.

As a member of the Lord’s Taverners for more than 20 years, Munday helped raise tens of thousands of pounds for charity and cricket-related projects.

Five years ago – when most pensioners are thinking about taking it easy – Munday took over as chairman of the Francis Clark Devon Cricket League. In a 2015 interview to mark being nominated for an ECB volunteer award, Munday said his love affair with cricket started at Tavistock Grammar School as a 14 year-old fast bowler.

Munday was encouraged by former Somerset player Bryan Lobb, whose love for the game was infectious

“Brian was a school teacher who played as an amateur for Somerset and opened the bowling for them,” said Munday.

“Like a lot of boys I played in the playground at school, but he was the first coach to coach me properly and that was when my interest in cricket took off.”

The teenage quickie learned about adult cricket with village side Whitchurch before he moved to nearby Tavistock in 1965.

“I went there to play at a bit better level and also to bowl with Jack Davey, who has been with me at Tavistock Grammar School,” said Munday.

“We had a great year together, then Jack went off to play for Gloucestershire, where he had a great career.”

Work took Munday away from Devon, but he never severed the umbilical cord with Devon and in particular Tavistock.

“I had a job with Mecca in Bristol, which put me back in close touch with Jack Davey and through him I got to know the Gloucestershire lads,” said Munday.

“David Shepherd was at Gloucester then and we renewed a friendship going back to our playing days when he was at North Devon and was with Tavistock.

“Sadiq Mohammad became a friend for life while I was living in Bristol and years later (1984) came down with me to play for St Gluvias the year we won the Cornwall League.

“In those days at lot of Tavistock’s big matches were on Sundays so I would come down from Bristol on my day off and play in them.”

Munday didn’t turn his back on Tavistock during his season with St Gluvias and still tuned out for the Moorlanders on Sundays.

By then he was back working in Devon – he had a sports shop in Plymstock at the time – and playing as much cricket as he could.

Over the next 40 years Munday became more and more involved in cricket, including a stint captaining the Devon Cricket Association XI in the old NCA Championship.

Although Tavistock was first and foremost in Munday’s cricket affections – he called their ground ‘the home of cricket; in latter years he was dedicated to get youngsters playing cricket.

One of the last things he arranged before his cancer deteriorated was a partnership deal between the David Shepherd Cricket Trust and estage agent Mansbridge Balment to get primary schools playing cricket.

“We need to get more young people playing this great game of ours and anything I can do I will,” Munday repeatedly said.

The kit bags have been presented to schools in Lamerton, Gulworthy, Milton Abbot, Buckland Monachorum and Mary Tavy.

Stuart Munday had a varied career that included bookmaking, property development, sports shop ownership. He briefly went into the family business, making sausage skins.

Stuart is survived by his wife Wendy, daughter Zoe and a granddaughter.