0Dickie Bird to officiate over native Yorkshire

There’s an old anec­dote in the crick­et­ing career of Har­old ‘Dick­ie’ Bird in which he hit a cen­tury for York­shire in one match and found him­self dropped for the next.

With an aver­age just over 20 his first-class career was hardly spec­tac­u­lar but as an inter­na­tion­al umpire he went on to argu­ably be the best in the business.

He was well liked and enter­tain­ing, bring­ing his nat­ive York­shire straight talk­ing no non­sense approach to the pitch. Dick­ie was also seen as com­pletely neut­ral who­ever was play­ing, des­pite a deep-rooted love of both county and country.

Now in retire­ment he has the chance to put an extra stamp on God’s own county after being pro­posed as county Pres­id­ent by the board.

As a proud York­shire­man myself I’m delighted. For too long the club has been riddled with intern­al wrangling; dirty lin­en washed in pub­lic; power polit­ics when it should only be about bat and ball. No more no less. With Dick­ie, how­ever, what you see is what you get. A heady mix of York­shire com­mon sense and straight talk­ing mixed with a good dol­lop of eccent­ri­city. To quote York­shire dia­lect; “Thar’s got a good’un thar knows!”

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Inter­est­ing news com­ing out of South Africa – Graeme Smith has announced the third and final test cur­rently under­way against the Aus­sies will be his last inter­na­tion­al. A great ser­vant to the game bows out.

There’s an old anec­dote in the crick­et­ing career of Har­old ‘Dick­ie’ Bird in which he hit a cen­tury for York­shire in one match and found him­self dropped for the next.

With an aver­age just over 20 his first-class career was hardly spec­tac­u­lar but as an inter­na­tion­al umpire he went on to argu­ably be the best in the business.

He was well liked and enter­tain­ing, bring­ing his nat­ive York­shire straight talk­ing no non­sense approach to the pitch. Dick­ie was also seen as com­pletely neut­ral who­ever was play­ing, des­pite a deep-rooted love of both county and country.

Now in retire­ment he has the chance to put an extra stamp on God’s own county after being pro­posed as county Pres­id­ent by the board.

As a proud York­shire­man myself I’m delighted. For too long the club has been riddled with intern­al wrangling; dirty lin­en washed in pub­lic; power polit­ics when it should only be about bat and ball. No more no less. With Dick­ie, how­ever, what you see is what you get. A heady mix of York­shire com­mon sense and straight talk­ing mixed with a good dol­lop of eccent­ri­city. To quote York­shire dia­lect; “Thar’s got a good’un thar knows!”

***

Inter­est­ing news com­ing out of South Africa – Graeme Smith has announced the third and final test cur­rently under­way against the Aus­sies will be his last inter­na­tion­al. A great ser­vant to the game bows out.