50 THE WEEK • JULY 21, 2019
WORLD CUP
ICC
2019
Umpiring legend, Yorkshireman,
administrator, philanthropist.
The many shades of Dickie BirdBELOVED
BIRD
BY NEERU BHATIA/Leedsarold Dennis Bird, 86,
watched the India-Sri
Lanka match on July 6
from the VIP suite in
the Carnegie Pavilion
at the Headingley Cricket Ground.
The stand to his left had the dressing
rooms. Its viewing gallery—Sir Dickie
Bird Players’ Balcony— was funded
by him (£1,25,000). He did it to make
the hot Headingley dressing rooms
more comfortable for the players.
Why? Because cricket, particularly
cricket in Yorkshire county, is his
whole world.
Bird was born in the county, in
Barnsley, in 1933 into a working class
family. His father, a miner, wanted his
son to pursue a career in sports. Bird
and his two sisters had a happy child-
hood in a two-up two-down terraced
family home near the mining pits. He
played cricket and football with his
father in the evenings. Fellow York-
shireman Sir Geoffrey Boycott was
his teammate at the Barnsley Cricket
Club. At 19, Bird signed a profession-
al contract with the Yorkshire County
Cricket Club (YCCC) on an annualretainer of up to £650. He also started
work as a travelling salesman for a
sports goods shop during winters.
He played 93 matches for Yorkshire
and Leicestershire as a right-hand
batsman, but being in and out of the
teams made him look towards coach-
ing and, later, umpiring as a full-time
career. He umpired 66 Tests and 69
ODIs and retired in 1996 as the most
beloved and respected umpire in
the world. His last Test was England
versus India at the Lord’s. The recent
chapter in Bird’s cricket journey is an
administrative stint as president of
the YCCC.
As he speaks, there is a twinkle in
his eyes. There is also a lot of emotion
and pride. “I watch Yorkshire a lot
because I was president of the club
for two years and we won back-to-
back championships,” he tells THE
WEEK. “I come here every day and
watch Yorkshire matches. I come
here during Tests. I will come here
every day when the Ashes match
happens.” Never once while he
spoke did he take his eyes off the
game (Rohit Sharma was crafting hisrecord-breaking fifth century in this
World Cup). Does the umpire in him
judge the action? “Oh no, I just watch
it as a spectator,” he says. Bird has at-
tended all the matches at Headingley,
the home of the YCCC. “It has been
a good World Cup so far,” he says. “I
said England would win the World
Cup before the tournament started
and I do not think [the result] will be
far from my prediction.”
His favourite cricketer of all time
is Sachin Tendulkar, who played
for Yorkshire aged 18. “I thought
he was a genius,” he says. “The first
time I saw him playing for India, I
said so. He was so young, just out of
school. I said he will put his name in
the record books. He had so much
time to play the ball.” He adds that
Tendulkar took umpiring decisions in
his stride. Bird is quite excited about
England Test skipper Joe Root, also aH