The favourite umpire in cricket history, Harold "Dickie" Bird, is dead at 92. Yorkshire County Cricket Club has confirmed that the former umpire passed away on Tuesday at home. Bird umpired for over two decades, officiating in 66 Tests and 69 ODIs, including the first three men's World Cup finals. He retired in 1996 at Lord's and was honoured by a guard of honour by England and India players. Born in Barnsley, Yorkshire, Bird's initial passion was football, but that was ended by a knee operation at the age of 15. He switched to cricket and played 93 first-class games for Yorkshire and Leicestershire between 1956 and 1964. A right-handed batter, he made 3,314 runs, two of them centuries, with a top score of 181 not out against Glamorgan. But an injury shortened his playing days and led him into umpiring. Read also: IND A vs AUS A 2025: Suthar bags five, Siraj hits stride on day one at Ekana Bird debuted as a first-class umpire in 1970, while his international career started in 1973. He soon became renowned for his eccentricities and was on record for worrying about timekeeping. His method on deciding on leg-before-wicket was his trademark. Prior to the advent of technology, Bird routinely favored batters, although he famously sent England captain Mike Atherton back lbw in the opening over of his last Test. Geoffrey Boycott, his old pal at Barnsley Cricket Club, considered him absolutely brilliant as an umpire and a legend respected all over the globe for being fair. In addition, Bird has sold more than one million copies of his autobiography, which was Britain's best-selling sports book. He was awarded an MBE in 1986 and an OBE in 2012. Bird was erected a bronze statue in his home town, Barnsley, in 2009. He then became Yorkshire president in 2014.