Gordon Robinson | Likkle but tallawah!

So the fatal index finger has finally been raised in the life of the great Harold Dennis “Dickie” Bird.

I can hear readers, especially members of Generation Born Yesterday, sounding like New Orleans residents “Who Dat?” “Dickie” Bird, who passed away on September 22 at 92, was born in Barnsley, UK, and became a cricketing legend without scoring a single run for England. He did play first class cricket for Yorkshire and Lancashire as a right-handed batsman. But, in 93 games, he scored only two centuries. His career was cut short at 31 by a bum knee.

It was as an excellent, if somewhat eccentric, Test and One Day International Umpire that Dickie found his destiny and passion. He stood in a world record (at the time) 66 Tests and 69 One Day Internationals including three World Cup Finals. He was one of the best and most respected umpires of all time.

But statistics don’t do Dickie justice. He was the first Umpire to have a distinct character and style. Everyone knew it was Dickie in charge.

Dickie didn’t come from British privilege. He was the son of a coal miner whose home was pulled down for slum clearance when he was two years old. He got the nickname “Dickie” Bird at school because of his diminutive size. But he could’ve been Jamaican – likkle but tallawah!

Dickie’s umpiring career was eventful. He was famous for almost never giving batsmen out LBW but was very strict in applying the rules against “intimidatory bowling” which didn’t make him a West Indian fan favourite. It was Dickie in charge when an IRA bomb threat interrupted the 1973 England v West Indies third Test. As the crowd was evacuated Dickie led the players to sit in the middle of the pitch where he was confident no bomb had been planted. The bomb threat turned out to be a hoax.

But one of the funniest stories about Dickie was told by Dickie himself in his autobiography. It came out of his experience umpiring the inaugural World Cup Final won by West Indies. Exuberant West Indian residents of England invaded the pitch in droves, overwhelming cricketers and umpires alike, snatching whatever “souvenirs” they could get their hands on. As Dickie tells it, a year later, he was on a bus in South London when he saw a fellow passenger wearing a hat very similar to the unique white hats he always wore. He asked the passenger where he obtained the hat.

“Man, haven’t you heard of Mr. Dickie Bird?” he replied. “This is one of his hats. I took it off his head at the World Cup final... We all ran onto the field and I won the race.”

After Dickie’s passing, Jamaica’s own cricketing legend and one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, Michael Holding, was quoted by Cricbuzz, a popular cricket news mobile app founded and owned in India:

“He was a great umpire who a lot of bowlers may say he was more for the batsmen than bowlers but that was because he followed the golden unwritten rule of the time that said ‘the benefit of the doubt goes to the batsman’. I had no problem with that as he was solid with that for both sides.”

Dickie Bird was also instrumental in the development and entrenchment of the Mikey Holding legend. It was Dickie who first nicknamed Mikey “Whispering Death” because he said that, as the standing umpire, he never knew when to expect Mikey at the wicket. His run-up was so smooth that Dickie couldn’t hear him coming.

Mikey always admired Dickie Bird. Cricbuzz quotes him further: “He was well respected by all in the game and in return he respected those who played and never tried to be bossy like some others. He was a good man who was loved by most and he knew it was important.”

Dickie Bird’s international career lasted from 1973 to 1995 and it must be emphasized that, during his time, there was no “third umpire” with video replay and no appeals against umpire’s decisions. Your respect as an umpire was earned by the soundness of your split second decisions.

Dickie and Mikey combined to produce the greatest irony of Dickie’s career. Holding was the last batsman given out in the 1983 World Cup Final - a devastating result that shifted world cricket power. The umpire was Dickie Bird and the decision was OUT LBW – something Dickie NEVER did. When asked about it by Cricbuzz, Mikey replied “I didn’t even remember that it was Dickie umpiring. I doubt very much he was wrong.”

Harold Dennis “Dickie” Bird, born April 19, 1933 (a Number One Day); rose to the top of the umpiring profession; died September 22, 2025. R. I. P.

Peace and Love.

Gordon Robinson is an attorney-at-law. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com