Dickie Bird
Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1956–1959 | Yorkshire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1960–1964 | Leicestershire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Scotland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last FC | 12 August 1964 Leicestershire v Essex | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
LA debut | 1 May 1963 Leicestershire v Lancashire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last LA | 27 May 1964 Leicestershire v Northamptonshire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Umpiring information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tests umpired | 66 (1973–1996) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ODIs umpired | 69 (1973–1995) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: CricketArchive, 19 August 2007 |
Harold Dennis "Dickie" Bird,
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,
Playing career
When a knee injury put paid to playing
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
Bird was an umpire in the final of the
"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
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
At the beginning of his final Test in 1996, the two teams –
Bird umpired in 66 Test matches (at the time a world record) and 69 One Day Internationals including 3 World Cup Finals.
He came out of retirement in January 2007 to umpire in the
Post retirement
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.
He was the subject of
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.
Bird was appointed
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]
Umpiring records
- As of June 2021[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]
References
- ^ ISBN 978-1-905080-85-4.
- ^ a b "Yorkshire: Former umpire Dickie Bird to become club president". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
- ^ That's out - Page 4
- ISBN 9781444756074.
- ^ Test Match Special 28 December 2010
- ^ "Dickie Bird". Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
- ^ a b Firsts, Lasts & Onlys: Cricket – Paul Donnelley (London: Hamlyn, 2010)
- ^ Cricinfo. p. 2007. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
- ^ "Thats owt that lad (Dickie Bird: My Autobiography – Dickie Bird)". www.dooyoo.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 April 2013. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
- ^ "Wisden – ENGLAND v AUSTRALIA 1980". Content-uk.cricinfo.com. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
- ^ Nick Harper (24 February 2004). "Dickie Bird interview". Sport.guardian.co.uk. London. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
- ISBN 0 340 75087 1)
- ^ "Top Gear - Jeremy Clarkson Testing the Reliant Robin Part 2 - YouTube". YouTube.
- ^ "BBC One – The Young Ones". BBC.co.uk. 22 December 2010. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
- ^ "No. 60009". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2011. p. 9.
- ^ "New Year Honours: Dickie Bird 'bowled over' as sporting heroes awarded". Sheffield Telegraph. 31 December 2011. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
- ^ "The University of Huddersfield's 2010 Honorary Award recipients". Hud.ac.uk. Huddersfield University. Archived from the original on 10 July 2010. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
- ^ "MCC Honorary Life Members". MCC. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
- ^ "UK | England | Dickie Bird's statue is revealed". BBC News. 30 June 2009. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
- ^ "Barnsley's prank-hit Dickie Bird statue raised". BBC News. BBC. 1 November 2013. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
- ^ "Celebrities' open letter to Scotland – full text and list of signatories". The Guardian. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
- ^ "Dickie Bird on shielding through the Covid-19 lockdown". BBC. 12 March 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
- ^ "Ask Steven: The mystery of the missing batsman | Cricinfo Magazine". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
- ^ "Umpire and referee records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru". Cricinfo. 22 June 2021. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ "Umpire and referee records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru". Cricinfo. 22 June 2021. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 22 June 2021.