Dickie Bird achieved only moderate success in his cricket-playing career, but from the moment he traded his bat for an umpire’s cap he was well on the way to becoming a towering figure in the sport’s history.

It is often said that a good umpire is the one who goes unnoticed, but one need never look beyond Bird for an exception to that rule. Bird, who has died at the age of 92 , was at once an outstanding umpire and impossible to ignore.

Although the quintessential Yorkshire cricket man, his good nature, vivid character and magnetic attraction to unlikely or amusing circumstances saw his legend outgrow geographical and sporting borders.

He shared the field with some of the game’s biggest stars and brightest talents but, more often than not, a line of autograph hunters formed to meet

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