Harold Dennis"Dickie" Bird,OBE (born 19 April 1933),[1] is an English former cricketer and retired international cricket umpire. During his long umpiring career,he became a much-loved figure among players and viewing public,due to his excellence as an umpire,but also his many eccentricities.
Bird played first-class cricket for Yorkshire and Leicestershire as a right-handed batsman,but only scored two centuries in 93 appearances. His career was blighted by a knee injury,which eventually forced him to retire aged 31. He umpired in 66 Test matches (at the time a world record) and 69 One Day Internationals,including 3 World Cup Finals.
In February 2014,Yorkshire announced that Bird was to be voted in as the club's president at their Annual General Meeting on 29 March.[2]
Bird's autobiography,published in 1997,has sold more than a million copies.
Early life
Harold Dennis Bird was born at Church Lane,Barnsley,West Riding of Yorkshire,England,on Wednesday,19 April 1933,but when he was two years old,he moved with his family to New Lodge estate as his house was pulled down in a slum clearance scheme.[3][4] The son of a coal miner,he gained the nickname 'Dickie' at school. In 1944,Bird failed his 11-plus examination and went to Raley Secondary Modern School,leaving at the age of 15. For a while,he worked at a coal mine,but gave it up,deciding it was not for him. Instead,he set out for a career in sport.
Playing career
When a knee injury put paid to playing football professionally,he followed his second love,cricket. In his early career in Barnsley,he played club cricket in the same team as journalist and chat show host Michael Parkinson,who became a lifelong friend;they were later joined in the team by Geoffrey Boycott. In 1956,Bird signed up with his home county,Yorkshire.[1] Boycott has spoken highly of Bird's ability as a batsman,but feels that his attempt to forge a career as a county cricketer was hampered by his inability to control his nerves[5] –although he was also not helped by stiff competition for the opening batsman's position. Indeed,after scoring his first (and only) County Championship century of 181* in a 1959 match against Glamorgan at Bradford,in the absence of the regular opener Ken Taylor (who was playing for England),he was dropped when Taylor returned from international duty in the next match. Bird played only five more championship matches that season (plus the MCC versus Champion County match),four in the middle order rather than his preferred opener's position,and spent most of the season as "twelfth man":hardly a situation conducive to building confidence in his batting. Shortly before the start of the 1960 season he moved to Leicestershire,where at first he enjoyed a more or less regular place in the team. In his first season (1960),he scored over 1,000 runs,including a century against the touring South Africans which would prove to be his only other first-class century. However,he faded out of the team,thanks to a combination of loss of form,confidence and a recurrence of his persistent knee injury,playing his last match in 1964. Overall,between 1956 and 1964,Bird played first-class cricket as a batsman for Yorkshire[1] and Leicestershire in 93 matches,mostly in the County Championship.
After his county career ended Bird was a cricket professional for Paignton between 1965 and 1969,scoring over 10,000 runs. He coached cricket at Plymouth College between 1966 and 1968,and coached in Johannesburg in 1968 and 1969. [6]
Umpiring career
He stood in his first county game in 1970. Three years later,he officiated at his first Test match,England v New Zealand at Headingley in Leeds. The other umpire was Charlie Eliott as England won by an innings and one run.[7] Bird also umpired in the second and third tests of that summer's tour by the West Indies –both of which proved eventful:in the second test at Edgbaston,Bird had to umpire from the bowler's end at both ends for couple of overs,with a substitute umpire at square leg,when Arthur Fagg refused to continue in protest against the conduct of the West Indian players. Then,in the third test at Lords,play was interrupted by an IRA bomb scare (later found out to be a hoax). While the crowd cleared out of the ground in record time,Bird and the players sat down in the centre of the pitch,knowing there was no bomb there. He gained a reputation for stopping play for weather,and almost never giving batsmen out LBW –he gave LBWs so seldom that if he did give it,there was absolutely no doubt the batsman was out. Bird was also very strict on the definitions of "intimidatory bowling",both from short-pitched deliveries and high full tosses,and made it abundantly clear he would tolerate none of it.
Bird was an umpire in the final of the inaugural Cricket World Cup in 1975. A pitch invasion followed the West Indies' 17-run victory,and number of players and umpires had items of their playing outfits "souvenired" by the crowd.[8] A year later,Bird was a passenger on a bus in South London,when he noticed the conductor was wearing a white hat very similar to the one he favoured,and asked the conductor where he obtained it from.
"Man,haven't you heard of Mr Dickie Bird," he replied. "This is one of his hats. I took it off his head at the World Cup final... we all ran onto the field and I won the race."[8][9]
Bird's attention to detail was placed under scrutiny at the Centenary Test between England and Australia at Lord's in 1980. Although the Saturday of this particular match had mostly pleasant sunshine,Bird and his fellow umpire,David Constant,refused to let play start because of the previous night's rain;parts of the outfield were still too waterlogged,according to the officials. Angry Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) members scuffled with Constant as he and the team captains returned to the Long Room after their fifth pitch inspection. The two captains,Ian Botham and Greg Chappell,had to intervene to protect Constant. Bird,however,was still on the pitch at the time according to his own recounting of the event in his book. When play finally started at 3:45pm,police had to escort the umpires through the Long Room and on to the field.[10] This was not the only occasion where Bird had to stop play,despite current sunny conditions,because of previous bad weather:in the 1988 Test at Headingley against the West Indies,an overnight rainstorm caused a blocked drain to overflow with a delayed action:the pitch was fine but the bowler's run-up was slowly flooding from underneath,the water level was oozing up over Curtly Ambrose's bootlaces,and Bird's as well when he went over to investigate,and the umpires had to take the players off while the outfield was cleared of water.
One of Bird's strengths was his ability to manage and earn the respect of some of the more volatile players in the game,sometimes by using his infectious humour. He was also known as being eccentric,famously arriving at a ground five hours early as the Queen was to visit that day.
At the beginning of his final Test in 1996,the two teams –India and England –formed a guard of honour as he came out,and he received a standing ovation from the crowd.[7] Bird,an emotional man,was in tears. His eyes had to clear quickly,though,because two minutes later he had to give England captain Mike Atherton out LBW in the first over. Two years later,in 1998,he stood in his last county match.
Bird went on to write his autobiography simply titled My Autobiography (with a foreword by Michael Parkinson),which sold more than a million copies.[11] A sequel titled White Cap and Bails –Adventures of a Much Travelled Umpire was published in 1999 by Hodder and Stoughton.[12] Bird set up the Dickie Bird Foundation to help disadvantaged under-18s achieve their potential in sport.
Bird appeared in one episode of Trigger Happy TV. He also appeared in an episode of Top Gear in 2010.[13] That year he also took part in BBC's The Young Ones,in which six celebrities in their seventies and eighties,attempted to overcome some of the problems of ageing,by harking back to the 1970s.[14] He also made a guest appearance in Series 16 Ep 7 of Heartbeat umpiring a cricket match.
A six-foot statue of Bird erected in his honour near the place of his birth in Barnsley was unveiled on 30 June 2009.[19] It has subsequently been raised by putting it on a five-foot-high plinth in order to discourage late night revellers hanging inappropriate items on the famous finger.[20]
On his pending appointment as President of Yorkshire CCC in 2014,Bird stated "Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would become the president of the greatest cricket club in the world".[2]
In August 2014,Bird was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue.[21]
In March 2021,Bird spoke to the BBC about his loneliness while shielding during the COVID-19 lockdown. He said that exercise was the key to him keeping his spirits up.[22]
As of June2021[update],Bird has officiated the most test matches in a single nation –54 in England[23][24] and has officiated in more test matches at Lord's (15) than any other umpire.[25]
Related Research Articles
John Augustine Snow is a retired English international cricketer who played for Sussex from 1961 to 1977 and represented England in 49 Test matches. He was born in Peopleton,Worcestershire.
Leg before wicket (lbw) is one of the ways in which a batter can be dismissed in the sport of cricket. Following an appeal by the fielding side,the umpire may rule a batter out lbw if the ball would have struck the wicket but was instead intercepted by any part of the batsman's body. The umpire's decision will depend on a number of criteria,including where the ball pitched,whether the ball hit in line with the wickets,the ball's expected future trajectory after hitting the batsman,and whether the batsman was attempting to hit the ball.
Sir Geoffrey Boycott is a former Test cricketer,who played cricket for Yorkshire and England. In a prolific and sometimes controversial playing career from 1962 to 1986,Boycott established himself as one of England's most successful opening batsmen,a dogged grafter.
Michael William Gatting is an English former cricketer,who played first-class cricket for Middlesex and for England from 1977 to 1995,captaining the national side in twenty-three Test matches between 1986 and 1988. He toured South Africa as captain of the rebel tour party in 1990.
Michael Paul Vaughan is an English cricket commentator and former cricketer who played all forms of the game. He served as England captain for the test team from 2003 to 2008,the one-day international team from 2003 to 2007,and was the first Twenty20 England captain from 2005 to 2007. He represented Yorkshire in the domestic arena.
In cricket,a dismissal occurs when a batter's innings is brought to an end by the opposing team. Other terms used are the batter being out,the batting side losing a wicket,and the fielding side taking a wicket. The ball becomes dead,and the dismissed batter must leave the field of play for the rest of their team's innings,to be replaced by a team-mate. A team's innings ends if ten of the eleven team members are dismissed. Players bat in pairs so,when only one batter remains who can be not out,it is not possible for the team to bat any longer. This is known as dismissing or bowling out the batting team,who are said to be all out.
John Michael Brearley is a retired English first-class cricketer who captained Cambridge University,Middlesex,and England.
Raymond Illingworth CBE was an English cricketer,cricket commentator and administrator. As of 2015,he was one of only nine players to have taken 2,000 wickets and made 20,000 runs in first-class cricket. He played for Yorkshire,Leicestershire (1969–1978) and England (1958–1973) and was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1960.
Derek Shackleton was a Hampshire and England bowler. He took over 100 wickets in 20 consecutive seasons of first-class cricket,but only played in seven Tests for England. As of 2007,he has the seventh-highest tally of first-class wickets,and the most first-class wickets of any player who began his career after World War II. He holds the record for the most first-class wickets taken by any Hampshire player.
David Robert Shepherd was a first-class cricketer who played county cricket for Gloucestershire,and later became one of the cricket world's best-known umpires. He stood in 92 Test matches,the last of them in June 2005,the most for any English umpire. He also umpired 172 ODIs,including three consecutive World Cup finals in 1996,1999 and 2003.
Frank Holmes Tyson was an England international cricketer of the 1950s,who also worked as a schoolmaster,journalist,cricket coach and cricket commentator after emigrating to Australia in 1960. Nicknamed "Typhoon Tyson" by the press,he was regarded by many commentators as one of the fastest bowlers ever seen in cricket and took 76 wickets at an average of 18.56 in 17 Test matches.
John Harry Hampshire,also known as Jack Hampshire,was an English cricketer and umpire,who played eight Tests and three One Day Internationals (ODIs) for England between 1969 and 1975. He played first-class cricket for Yorkshire from 1961 to 1981,and for Derbyshire from 1982 to 1984. Overseas,he was a successful captain of Tasmania in the period before the state was included in the Sheffield Shield. He was also appointed President of Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 2016,serving until his death a year later.
Louis Patrick "Lou" Rowan was an Australian Test cricket match umpire who umpired the first One Day International at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 5 January 1971. He umpired 25 Test matches between 1963 and 1971 and became Australia's senior umpire after the retirement of Col Egar. As a Detective Sergeant with the Queensland drug squad,Rowan took no nonsense and was inclined to stand on his authority. His first match was with Umpire Bill Smyth between Australia and England at Sydney on 11 January to 15 January 1963.
Frank Chester was briefly an English first-class cricketer before the First World War. After losing an arm in active service in 1917,he was a Test cricket umpire for 31 years. Wisden stated in his obituary that he "raised umpiring to a higher level than had ever been known in the history of cricket".
The English cricket team in the West Indies in 1953–54 played five Test matches,five other first-class matches and seven other games,three of them on a two-week stop-over in Bermuda that included Christmas.
Barrie John Meyer was an English footballer and cricketer,and later a cricket umpire.
Richard Allan Kettleborough is an English international cricket umpire,and former first-class cricketer who appeared in 33 first-class matches for Yorkshire and Middlesex. He was a left-handed top order batsman and occasional right-arm medium pace bowler. He attended Worksop College and was a member of the college cricket XI for a number of years.
William Lloyd Budd was an English first-class cricketer and international cricket umpire. Budd initially played first-class cricket for Hampshire County Cricket Club between 1934 and 1938,and briefly following the Second World War. He later became an umpire,standing in four Test matches and twelve One Day Internationals from 1976 to 1979.
The England team disputed several umpiring decisions in the 1970–71 Ashes series,Ray Illingworth,Geoffrey Boycott and John Snow in particular. After the series Boycott and Snow were called to a disciplinary hearing at Lords over their behaviour,and Illingworth and Snow never toured again. Only three umpires were used;Lou Rowan,who was most involved in the controversy,and his colleagues Tom Brooks and Max O'Connell who both debuted as Test umpires in the series. At the time,umpires had no recourse to slow motion replays and had to make decisions based on what they saw in a split second,with the benefit of the doubt always going to the batsman. As a result it was not uncommon for umpires to make mistakes,which over the course of a long series tended to cancel each other out. The best an umpire could do was to make an honest judgement based on what he saw.
Alexander Zak Lees is an English professional cricketer who plays internationally for the England Test cricket team. In domestic cricket,he represents Durham,captaining the ListA and t20 teams.
References
1 2 3 Warner, David (2011). The Yorkshire County Cricket Club: 2011 Yearbook (113thed.). Ilkley, Yorkshire: Great Northern Books. p.363. ISBN978-1-905080-85-4.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
