Dickie Bird, the Denny Krane of umpiring, I love him to bits. Some years ago, my wife bought me his autobiography at one of his book-signing events and the kindly old fella wrote some nice words inside (although exactly what I can’t remember, in fact I must confess to never having finished the book!), but still, for cricket fans of my era, Dickie will always be a special character and remembered as a top class umpire, albeit more than a little odd.
Dickie has though, been a long time dissenting voice against the calls for more technology in umpiring decisions, and it seems that the recent decision to allow players to appeal against a set number of umpiring calls has him again beating the drums for the umpiring status quo.
Dickie seems perturbed that the sacred role of umpire is in danger of transitioning into a human abacus, positioned at the crease to do nothing more than count balls and get jiggy with their signalling. And whilst I’m not sure that players appealing against judgements is the absolute best use of technology, (the ICC has a woeful record of following through with half baked experiments), I do know that some form of change in umpiring practises is as inevitable as Oprah doubling her mass before next Christmas.
Dickie, in the immediate aftermath of his retirement, would still have been a relevant commentator on umpiring practises, but I fear these days, that he sounds more like your Grandfather complaining that the “music these days just sounds like noise”.
The new ‘appeal’ process, temporary and toe-dipping as it may yet prove to be, is at least change, and for anyone who has sat through a “Best of Steve Bucknor” DVD in recent times, completely necessary.
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