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Harold ‘Dickie’ Bird, umpiring great, dies aged 92

Published

8 months ago

2025/09/23

Priyan

Harold 'Dickie' Bird, pictured at Headingley in May 2015 (Cricinfo)

Harold Dickie Bird, one of the most beloved umpires in cricket’s history, has died at the age of 92.

Bird, who officiated in 66 Tests and 69 ODIs, including three World Cup finals, was synonymous with his home county Yorkshire, for who he began his career as a top-order batter in 1956, and later went on to serve as Yorkshire president in 2014.

He averaged 20.71 in 93 first-class matches, making two centuries including a best of 181 not out against Glamorgan in 1959. But when, after moving to Leicestershire in 1960, his career was cut short by injury four years later, his switch to umpiring would set him on the path to becoming a household name.

Bird’s idiosyncrasies would become part of his appeal, including his famously anxious attitude to timekeeping. Having made his umpiring debut in May 1970, he travelled to London for his second match – Surrey versus Yorkshire at The Oval – arrived at 6am for an 11am start, and was caught by a policeman attempting to scale the wall of the still-locked ground.

As an umpire, he was famously reluctant to raise his finger for lbw appeals – several of his decisions would have been quickly over-turned in the age of DRS. In mitigation, he was at least consistent in offering the benefit of the doubt to batters … with one possible exception. On the morning of his final Test, England versus India at Lord’s, he arrived in the middle with tears in his eyes after a guard of honour from the players. And duly gave Mike Atherton out lbw in the first over of the match.

Other memorable moments included his decision, during the West Indies Test at Old Trafford in 1995, to call a halt to play for an excess of sunlight, which had been reflecting off a greenhouse behind the bowler’s arm. In that same fixture, as related by Atherton in his autobiography, Bird dropped the pocket-ful of marbles that he used to count the deliveries in an over.

“Play was halted momentarily while Dickie scrambled around on his hands and knees looking for his counters,” Atherton wrote. “‘I’ve lost me marbles! I’ve lost me marbles! He cried. Most of us thought he had lost his marbles a long time ago.”

He was frequently the victim of practical jokes – particularly at the hands of Ian Botham and Allan Lamb. On one occasion, Lamb arrived at the middle with his 1980s brick-style mobile phone still in his pocket. Bird duly stashed it in his coat, whereupon Botham rang the device from the dressing-room, telling a startled Bird to pass on a message for his team-mate to get a move on.

Bird himself had believed his likeliest route to sporting success was football, although as he related in his autobiography, a cartilage operation on his knee at the age of 15 put paid to that ambition. Instead, he became a fixture in Barnsley’s 1st XI cricket team, where his team-mates included Michael Parkinson – who would later become a world-renowned chat-show host – and later, Geoffrey Boycott.

In 2009, Bird was honoured with a bronze statue on Barnsley’s Church Lane, set in his familiar umpiring pose with one finger raised. The council was soon obliged to place it on a higher plinth than had been intended, due to the public’s temptation to hang objects on said finger.

He was appointed an MBE in 1986 and an OBE in 2012 in recognition of his outstanding contribution to cricket, having stood in his last first-class match in 1998, Yorkshire versus Warwickshire at Headingley.

(Cricinfo)

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Cambodia’s former opposition leader receives royal pardon for 27-year sentence

Published

44 mins ago

2026/05/25

Priyan

Kem Sokha was serving a 27-year sentence on treason charges, which were widely derided as politically motivated. [BBC]

Cambodia’s former opposition leader Kem Sokha, who was serving a 27-year sentence for treason, has been pardoned, the country’s former prime minister said.

Hun Sen, who is currently Cambodia’s acting head of state, said he signed a decree pardoning Sokha on behalf of King Norodom Sihamoni.

Sokha, the former leader of the now-dissolved Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP), was first arrested in 2017 over a video where he said he had received support from US pro-democracy groups.

He has been held under house arrest since he was found guilty of treason in 2023. The charges have been widely derided as politically motivated by human rights groups.

Hun Sen posted on Facebook that Sokha had been “pardoned”, alongside a photo of the royal decree signed by him.

The pardon came after an appeal against Sokha’s sentence was rejected last month. But it did not include overturning a ban on the politician leaving Cambodia for five years.

Hun Sen, who ruled Cambodia for nearly four decades, has been accused of weaponising the country’s courts to target his opponents. He stepped down as prime minister in 2023 and handed power to his eldest son, Hun Manet.

However, Hun Sen still wields immense power in Cambodia and is acting head of state while King Norodom Sihamoni receives medical treatment abroad.

Sokha’s CNRP party came close to securing a shock victory in the 2013 general election victory over Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP).

The opposition leader was arrested in 2017, less than a year ahead of the next general election, which the CNRP was banned from contesting.

[BBC]

Latest News

India gifts 134 cabs to Sri Lanka Police

Published

1 hour ago

2026/05/25

Priyan

A consignment of 134 single cabs gifted by the Government of India under the Indo–Sri Lanka Friendship Programme for the use of the Sri Lanka Police was officially handed over to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Monday (25) morning at the Presidential Secretariat.

The Government of India has incurred an expenditure of approximately LKR.300 million for this initiative and the vehicles are scheduled to be distributed among police stations in the Northern Province.

Speaking at the occasion, Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha stated that similar assistance would continue to be extended to Sri Lanka in the future.

In appreciation of this gift by the Government of India, Inspector General of Police Priyantha Weerasooriya presented a commemorative memento to Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha.

Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs, Ananda Wijepala, Deputy Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs, Sunil Watagala, Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security Ravi Seneviratne, General Manager of DIMO Rajeev Pandithage, officials of the Indian High Commission and senior officers of the Sri Lanka Police were also present at the occasion.

(PMD)

Latest News

Landslide Early Warnings issued to the Districts of Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Kegalle, Nuwara Eliya and Ratnapura extended till 1600 hrs on Tuesday [26]

Published

1 hour ago

2026/05/25

Priyan

The National Building Reasearch Organisation [NBRO] has extended the landslide early warnings issued to the districts of Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Kegalle, Nuwara Eliya and Ratnapura till 1600 hrs on Tuesday 26th May 2026.

Accordingly,
The LEVEL II [AMBER] landslide early warnings issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Dehiowita, Deraniyagala, Ruwanwella and Yatiyanthota in the Kegalle district and Kuruwita, Ratnapura, Ayagama and Eheliyagoda in the Ratnapura district and

The LEVEL I [YELLOW] landslide early warnings issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Seethawaka and Padukka in the Colombo district, Attanagalla in the Gampaha district, Palindanuwara, Mathugama, Bulathsinhala, Agalawatta, Ingiriya and Horana in the Kalutara district, Bulathkohupitiya in the Kegalle district, Ambagamuwa in the Nuwara Eliya district and Kiriella, Pelmadulla, Nivithigala, Elapatha and Kalawana in the Ratnapura district have been extended.