Everyone at CricketEurope was deeply saddened to learn of the death on Sunday of our highly respected colleague David Potter. For many years he was the Scotland editor of CricketEurope and the leading source online of information about Scottish Cricket.

I first met David in 1998 after Bert Barclay had asked me to develop and manage a website for the Scottish Cricket Union (SCU), similar to the one I was providing for the Irish Cricket Union. At the time David was the Operations Manager of the SCU and he was to be the source of all the information that would appear on the site. I checked him out online and found that he had also been a leading Scottish umpire and had umpired the 1997 international between Scotland and Australia in front of a sellout crowd at The Grange.

Although I met with David a few times in the SCU offices in Edinburgh, the first time we actually worked together was at the 2000 European Championships in Glasgow. I was struck at once by his organisational skills, his knowledge and his attention to detail. He was the hardest of workers and would not consider his evening meal until absolutely everything had been completed for the day. That meant we often went hungry! However, he immediately gained my respect and we very quickly became good friends.

For several more years David continued as the SCU Operations Manager and each time I went to the SCU offices I saw first hand the high respect in which he was held by his fellow staff, players and coaches both in his SCU role and as a person.

In the winter of 2004-5 David was among a group of us who met in Antwerp and founded CricketEurope. David was a crucial figure and became our Scotland Editor, a role which he carried out for the next 13 years.

Single-handedly he ran the Scottish operation throughout that period in the most committed manner imaginable and what a wonderful job he made of it. He devoted his entire summer to attending matches and then going home to input dozen of short results, input the scorecards to our CricketStatz database, write reports and publish the photographs he had taken. A daunting workload indeed.

At that time we became contracted to cover ICC Europe tournaments, and then ICC World Cricket League events. David covered many of these events as part of the CricketEurope on-site team and proved, not surprisingly, to be a great team man, always prepared to take on more than his share of the work.

David was very much 'old school', a man with a wonderfully dry sense of humour; he certainly didn’t suffer fools gladly and we soon gave him the nickname 'Mr Grumpy'. It was meant and used affectionately because he was usually right about whatever was niggling him. He seemed to have a particular dislike for certain ICC and ICC Europe officials.

There were some memorable moments at the 2005 ICC Trophy where we were contracted by the Irish Cricket Union but the tournament was, of course, being run by the ICC. I will never forget his put down of an ICC official who decided to upbraid us because we had finally given up work at 11pm on a rain-delayed day in Belfast. Talk about a young upstart being put in his place.

A week later in Dublin we were sitting in the lounge of the Burlington Hotel when David decided that he needed to vent his spleen about the various ICC tournament officials. What he couldn't see, but the rest of us could, was that most of those same officials were standing behind him. We didn't stop him because he was only vocalising what the rest of us were thinking! Our relationship with the ICC never recovered from that incident.

Within the CricketEurope setup he was always a calm and steady influence at our annual meetings, pointing out the impractical nature of our discussions when they inevitably strayed into the fanciful. Personally I always appreciated his support and felt I had his backing whenever I proposed any innovations or changes to the site.

Over the years I went on busman's holidays to Scotland just to to watch various matches rather than work at them. David and his wife Margaret always insisted that I stay with them in their Dunfermline home and they were magnificent hosts. We would watch cricket during the day and then Margaret would provide us with a lovely meal and we would retire to reduce David's wine stocks as we put the world to right. It also gave me the opportunity to appreciate the wonderful relationship that the Potters quite obviously shared.

David was a man of Forfar, and a dedicated friend of Strathmore cricket and rugby clubs. He became their official photographer, taking endless shots of cricket and rugby matches, and endearing himself to a whole generation of players of both sports. The first time he took me to Strathmore's ground we went via a local bakery where I was introduced to the local speciality, the famous Forfar Bridie. I wasn't allowed to leave until I had assured him that it was far superior to a Cornish Pasty.

What was also so striking was that, no matter which Scottish ground I ever went to with David, he always got the warmest of welcomes from the locals. It was very obvious that he was universally popular throughout Scottish cricket. But then he was as warm, kind and generous a person as you could hope to meet.

He was also a champion of women's sport, spending many an afternoon taking photos of women's cricket and rugby matches. Many players have gone on Facebook to show their appreciation of the coverage he provided on their behalf.

David continued in his demanding role with CricketEurope until 2018 when he decided that he, quite rightly, wanted to devote more of his time to his family and pursuits other than cricket.

Although all of us at CricketEurope understood totally his reasons for turning to other things, his departure was a massive loss to us as a group. But it was a measure of the person he was, that he was always ready to assist and advise us whenever we turned to him for help.

We didn't try to replace David because he was, quite simply, irreplaceable. We could never have found a person with the same enthusiasm, commitment, skills and love of Scottish cricket. It wasn't even worth trying. He was one of a kind.

David was a great man in every respect - I really missed working with him in recent years but will always be thankful for not only what he contributed to CricketEurope but, more importantly, for his warm friendship and the enjoyment we had working together in many places. I count myself very fortunate to have known him and I know I speak for all at CricketEurope in saying that.

Thank you David. You and Margaret will always remain very much in my thoughts.