Former Australian Test captain Mark Taylor has recalled the time iconic umpire Harold "Dickie" Bird said to him in his thick English accent, "Hey lad, use your bat."

Taylor had some nice words to say about Bird on Nine's Wide World of Sports on Sunday, six days after his death at 92 .

And the former Australian Test opener shared a brilliant anecdote from a 1989 match at Lord's. Advertisement

"In my second Test in England, I actually let a ball go — 'Dickie' was umpiring — and it flicked the top of my pad," Taylor recalled.

"The Englishmen all went up for this big appeal, and he turned it down.

"Next ball, I got a single, and at the other end he said, 'Hey lad, use your bat'.

"So I said, 'Right, I'll take on that', and I used my bat from then on," Taylor said, chuckling as he c

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