Former Australian Test captain Mark Taylor has recalled the time iconic umpire Harold “Dickie” Bird said to him in his thick English accent, “Hey lad, use your bat.”
Taylor had some nice words to say about Bird on Nine’s Wide World of Sports on Sunday, six days after his death at 92.
And the former Australian Test opener shared a brilliant anecdote from a 1989 match at Lord’s.
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“In my second Test in England, I actually let a ball go — ‘Dickie’ was umpiring — and it flicked the top of my pad,” Taylor recalled.
“The Englishmen all went up for this big appeal, and he turned it down.
“Next ball, I got a single, and at the other end he said, ‘Hey lad, use your bat’.
“So I said, ‘Right, I’ll take on that’, and I used my bat from then on,” Taylor said, chuckling as he cast his mind back.
Umpire Harold “Dickie” Bird (right) talks with West Indies fast bowler Courtney Walsh. Getty
In a 93-match first-class career with Yorkshire and Leicestershire spanning 1956-1964, Bird scored two centuries and 14 half-centuries.
But he’s better known for the international career he carved out as an umpire between 1973 and 1996.
He was respected widely as a superb umpire and he had some fun on the field, too.
On many occasions, he diffused tense situations with common sense and good humour.
And he did so with twitching shoulders and his iconic white cap.
“It was a sad day with the cricket world losing Harold ‘Dickie’ Bird during the week at the age of 92,” Taylor said.
“‘Dickie’ Bird was good fun out on the field, and he got the balance right between having a bit of fun as an umpire but also doing his job well.
“Well respected by all concerned in the game of cricket.”
Bird officiated in 66 Tests and 69 one-day internationals, including three World Cup finals.
He umpired in his final first-class match at Headingley in 1998.
Harold “Dickie” Bird umpiring in a match at Lord’s in 1980. Getty
Legendary English batter Sir Geoffrey Boycott paid tribute to Bird in the UK Telegraph this week.
“I would say, ‘My name’s not Gerald, it’s Geoffrey’,” Boycott wrote.
“It made no difference telling him because he would then say, ‘OK, put the gloves on for me Gerald’.
“Dickie was a character and he was always fun. He was respected, admired and loved. He will be given a fond farewell.”
Former England batting star David Gower also remembered Bird fondly this week.
“He certainly set himself high standards as an umpire, but that smile on his face at all times, whether he’s giving you out or not out, whatever he was doing out in the middle, you just knew that Dickie was in the place that he loved best,” Gower told the BBC.
“He was just a very, very good umpire. He had a sense of humour. He had the ability in his own very quirky and slightly barmy way of being able to get on with everyone.”