One of cricket’s best known and most-respected umpires, Harold “Dickie” Bird died last week at the age of 92. He officiated a then-record 66 Tests and 76 ODIs between 1973 and 1996, including the first three World Cup finals.
Born in Barnsley, Bird was a more than decent cricketer, and a teammate of Michael Parkinson and Geoffrey Boycott at Barnsley CC. He played 14 first-class matches for Yorkshire and, after his only hundred for the county, he was dropped and joined Leicestershire, for whom he also made one hundred.
He became a county umpire in 1970 and just ...
