I had to say something about Harold Dennis Bird. Not that I would ever have called him that. As far as I can tell, Richie Benaud was the only person who called him Harold Bird. To most of us cricket fans, he was always ‘Dickie’ Bird, my favourite umpire of all time, with David Shepherd in second place.
It is fitting that fitting that I linked Bird and Benaud. A huge memory of my childhood was watching cricket on the BBC. In my head, I can still hear Benaud introducing the umpires. “The umpires today are Harold Bird and David Shepherd.” It might have been someone like Ken and Roy Palmer, David Constant, Nigel Plewes, Barrie Meyer, Barry Dudleston, John Holder…..and I will have missed a few greats. But, for me, Dickie was the greatest of all.
You did not have to watch Dickie at work for long in order to see that he was quite emotional, which I gather hindered his playing career. As an umpire, it became a strength, helping him to get alongside players. If tempted to think his emotions impacted his judgement, you only had to watch his last test match at Lords in 1996. Mike Atherton arranged for the players to form a guard of honour, which left Dickie reaching for the tissues. However, he had no trouble giving Atherton out plumb LBW in the first over. So much about Bird is encapsulated in that one game. Full of humility and emotion one minute, sending England’s captain to the pavilion the next. Yes, Dickie was often laughing, occasionally being a bit silly – but the players knew he could get serious as and when it was needed. Where a word with a player was needed – just ask Merve Hughes, he would have it, but mostly, he would try and get alongside the players. That was how he avoided conflict. And why he was so respected.
Now then, let’s get down to the biggest change in sport since those halycon days of the 1980s. Television replays. We had them, but they were not of the quality they are now. As a result, we can never prove that the ‘old’ umpires were as good as we thought. Modern hawk-eye analysis suggests that Umpire Ray Julian was right and a lot more LBWs ought to have been given in the past. But what cricketers looked for – and still do – is consistency. Unlike Julian, ex-players would say that Dickie was a not-outer. Bowlers found that frustrating but and batters knew it was highly likely to be extremely plumb when Dickie put the finger up. Some say that the implementation of the Decision Review System has weakened umpires, but I disagree. I think what has weakened umpires is a consistent failure to intervene when player behaviour or over rates are not up to scratch. That is nothing to do with technology, which I think Bird would have embraced – after all, he was one of the first international umpires to call for the ‘TV umpire’ to make a run-out decision. Even technology cannot ensure consistency – just ask Snicko. The umpires that have been consistent have been the most popular, and that is why Denis Lillee once called Bird ‘the best’.
As the 1990s wore on, neutral umpires were introduced. I think we got it right in 1990s when we had one home umpire and one neutral umpire, and I think that policy could be solidified now as we always have 3 umpires and we have DRS. Any suggestion of bias would be detected now – though I do think 1 neutral umpire is still needed. It seems a great shame that English umpires never get to umpire at home – which drove Peter Willy off the international panel due to the level of travel required for neutral umpires. Except for the period during and immediately following Covid, never again would you see two English umpires in a test match. So it was that the 90s saw off the Bird and Shepherd combination in test matches. The positive was that they got to work with international colleagues, both home and abroad, for a few more years. It gave ‘Dickie’ the chance to umpire in Australia and the West Indies, amongst other places. Given Dickie’s reluctance to give an LBW, it is a brilliant piece of irony that Dickie stood in a record breaking game in the West Indies for the number of LBWs given.
Bird memories? Crazy things seemed to happen when Dickie was involved. Unlike ‘Shep’, Dickie did not hop when the score was 111, but he did once end up with Allan Lamb’s mobile phone in his pocket. I used to love it when quick singles were taken, and the umpire had to run around to be able to see the run-out line and the stumps. Generally, ‘Dickie’ got this right, but every so often, Bird would not quite be quick enough and would obstruct a throw. A couple of times, Bird also got in the way of Graham Gooch streight drives. Dickie did the Lords test match in 1990 when Gooch made 333 – he seemed to spend the entire game signalling four. The Oval pigeons always created hilarity. And, memorably, he was standing when Shane Warne destroyed Mike Gatting at Old Trafford in 1993. I also attended that game at Old Trafford in 1995 when play was delayed due to sunlight reflecting off B&Q. The Lancashire members gave Bird a hard time. If it is not rain, it is sunshine.
As Dickie got older, the tall-stories got more and more extraorinary. But it was such a delight last summer to hear ‘Dickie’ re-tell that story about losing his cap in the 1975 World Cup final, which he said was the highlight of his career. Jonathan Agnew had to help Dickie along a bit – and he handled that interview so well. Dickie said that his cap got taken off his head by spectator in the madness at the end of that World cup Final, but it turned up a few years later on the head of a London bus conductor. As a child, I always chose to believe that story. I really do hope it is true.
Cricketed 