Dickie Bird’s humour and love for cricket made him an unlikely icon of his sport | Vic Marks

While he could be funny, he was also firm and players knew where they stood with umpire who became as famous as them

Dickie Bird may well have been the most consistent, the most famous and the most loved umpire in cricket history and yet when he pitched up at the grounds of ambitious county teams in the 70s and 80s there would often be groans in the home dressing room. Dickie’s presence was bound to enliven the game but it would also make it harder to win. Dickie was a cautious umpire, who required certainty before he raised his finger to send a batsman back to the pavilion (often with a bellowed “That’s Out”). To win games, which usually meant taking 20 wickets, the bold captain would prefer one of the more cavalier umpires on the circuit, who might later boast of his hundred victims by the end of May, to be officiating. Dickie shunned such frivolities; he might regard it as an insult to the game he loved more than anything. A lifelong bachelor he would later declare, maybe with a tinge of regret, that he was always married to the game of cricket.

Until he took up umpiring in 1970 Dickie’s professional career had been undistinguished. As a young man he played for Barnsley CC alongside Michael Parkinson, who remained a constant friend, and soon they were joined in the team by Geoffrey Boycott, who was several years younger but destined to score rather more runs than the other two. Boycott has since acknowledged Bird’s natural talent while also referencing, to the surprise of no one, that he was often hampered by nerves. However in 1959 Bird managed to seize his chance at Bradford against Glamorgan since Yorkshire’s regular opener, Ken Taylor, was playing for England. He hit an unbeaten 181 but was promptly dropped for the next game as Taylor returned to the side. By the start of the following season Bird had joined Leicestershire and after a promising start there the runs dried up, injuries intervened and his confidence dipped. So he left the club in 1964 and spent five seasons as the cricket professional for Paignton CC in Devon – in later life he would often return there for holidays.