Leading Irish umpire Mark Hawthorne has paid tribute to his colleague Paul Reynolds who died on Tuesday following a lengthy illness.

Hawthorne is in Spain where he, Roly Black, Aidan Seaver and Phil Thompson are all officiating in the Celtic Challenge between Ireland Women and Scotland.

"Paul has been ill for some time and was meant to be here in Spain but pulled out a few weeks ago - we knew how ill he was but it was still a shock to hear the news this morning," said Hawthorne.

"Paul wished all of us well before we left for Spain. He ended his last message to me with the words, “Go well!

"As you can imagine we have been talking about Paul since the news broke and we have all shared stories - Paul’s sense of humour and his good nature came out in every story we retold this morning.

"Paul received an award for his contribution to Irish cricket at the Cricket Ireland awards  - his family were present on the evening and and I know the standing ovation he received when he went up for the award touched a  nerve with everyone who was present on the evening. 

"He came on to the International Panel in 2018  and we formed a close bond as we officiated  games involving international teams from around the world.

"On the CI International Panel we looked upon Paul as the go to man when we had queries about any ICC regulations - he knew the ICC Almanac better than any of us.

'In August he umpired the second Ireland versus India T20 match at Malahide  - that turned out to be the final international match he umpired.

"It's a desperately sad day for Paul’s family and for Irish cricket."