Book Review - Dickie Bird - My Autobiography

Shep mentioned Dickie Bird's autobiography in his own. I've recently finished reading it and what a fantastic read it was. Full of genuinely funny anecdotes from his playing days through to his umpiring. I wasn't aware of his upbringing or playing career for Yorkshire and Leicestershire and only knew him as an international umpire. What a charmed life he lead although not everything went to plan. Even the foreward by Michael Parkinson was interesting - unlike Shep's done by Richie Benaud.

Unlike Shep's autobiography Dickie is quite fond of praising himself and his achievements. He mentions, twice, that he has met the Queen on 27 occasions and been introduced to two prime ministers. Old Dickie is certainly no shrinking violet. I don't think that he is too full of himself but is full of a love of cricket and life. He really wants to have a positive impact on everyone around him.

I laughed out loud to some of his antics such as arriving at the to umpire his first test match so early in the morning that he had to climb the gates and was stopped by a policeman who didn't believe that he was the umpire. Dickie hated to be late and made quite a habit of being early. It's a wonder that he didn't give himself an ulcer as he appears to be a born worrier. And he must have been the only umpire to halt a game due to light - when the reflection of sunlight from windows was shining on the pitch. He also had a match interrupted by snow! Not only that but underground piping that burst and held up a game when the ground became flooded. And who could forget the bomb alert when Dickie thought that the pitch was the safest place to be and there he sat with several thousands of the spectators until the ground was cleared by the police. He was so well know for taking the players off the ground due to bad light, especially so at Old Trafford, that when asked by one spectator why the players were coming off, "For bad light?" that his response of, "It's lunch, sir." was highly amusing.

Dickie Bird - My Autobiography

Quite a character is Dickie Bird. And quite a good book he has written. If you love the game of cricket you'll probably enjoy the book. I know I certainly did. Not bad for $1 either.

Book Review - Shep - my autobiography by David Shepherd

I've always thought that Shep was a bit of a character. One of those larger than life fellows. From what I saw of him on TV as a test match umpire he didn't appear to take any nonsense from the players. His autobiography cost me $2 so surely it was value for money.

I have to say the book was a disappointing read. Sure, I didn't know that Shep was a county cricketer in England before becoming a first class umpire. Books written by former cricketers are normally full of amusing anecdotes about the game of cricket. Ok, there were a few amusing stories but he refers to his Devonian roots and excessive girth far too often during the book. Shep was an insecure cricketer as he didn't have the ability to reach the next level and was always worried about maintaining his place in the Gloucestershire side and trying to lose some weight. He mentions umpire Dickie Bird a few times and his autobiography is the next book on my reading list.

Sorry, but I wouldn't read another book by Shep and I didn't enjoy this one by him. And the foreward by Richie Benaud wasn't flash either.

Shep - my autobiography by David Shepherd

World Cup Umpiring

Is it just me or has the umpiring in this years World Cup been **cough cough** ordinary? And believe me, I've seen ordinary. Eddie Lennie used to umpire at Perth Glory games. Sorry Eddie, I never could stand your umpiring at our home matches but you didn't do badly at the World Cup when you officiated. Actually, having read the page on Wikipedia about him he'd fit right in at South Africa 2010.

I think that the Yanks were robbed last night by umpiring worse than in Germany vs Serbia game. There were at least three instances of holding in the penalty box by the Slovenians that should have led to a penalty but Edu put the cross into the net and they still weren't awarded the match-winning goal they so richly deserved.

Miroslav Klose's second yellow card, when he accidentally clipped one of the Slovenes from behind and tripped him up, was a disgrace. How many officials do they have in a match and no common sense seems to prevail? You can't make a mistake like that with such quality players as at a World Cup and it not have consequences.

As a side note, here's one for you English - to the tune of "You're going home in the back of an ambulance!" Altogether now - "We're so sh!t it's unbelievable!!"

Australian Cricketers Are A Sporting Disgrace

I had Cricinfo's (Baggygreen.com) live scorecard from the first test match this summer between Australia and Sri Lanka going whilst at work today. Towards the end of the day Sanath Jayasuriya was given out, in a contentious decision, caught behind. Cricinfo reported that replays show no contact with the bat was made. "Desperately unlucky" was the phrase used on one television news report whilst another failed to mention that the guy hadn't hit the ball at all. I think that "desperately unlucky" doesn't do justice to the situation.

The Aussies saw the ball move away about the same time that it passed the bat but it was a deviation caused by swing rather than a nick. There was no sound indicating a nick either. What really upsets me about the Aussies in this situation is the appealing for a catch when there was quite obviously no contact made. The Aussies were very unsporting in this case, I feel. And what about the umpiring. I heard that the original umpires that were to be used had visa issues with getting into the country and had to be replaced at very short notice. Their replacements, or at least one of them, appears to be a very poor replacement. There is an overriding factor when an appeal is made and that is that the batsman is to receive "the benefit of the doubt". That is, when there is doubt that the batsman is out he is to be given not out. Any benefit is to the batsman's benefit. Now, for an experienced umpire to see a ball move but not hear a nick and give the decision in favour of the bowler is blatantly disgusting. Jayasuriya was unhappy about the decision but accepted it.

I feel that the batsman, quite obviously in this case, should be allowed to appeal the decision as he has been unfairly dealt with. The reason my woodwork teacher and junior cricket captain at Mundulla, Mr Ferris, preferred cricket to tennis was the fact that one mistake in cricket and your day was over. Tennis was a game where you could afford to make numerous mistakes and still triumph. When I played cricket and was bowling and there was a chance of a wicket with the whole team appealing and I didn't believe that it was out, I just turned to go back to the top of my mark for the next delivery. I didn't believe in appealing if I didn't think it was out. And I deplore the Aussies for appealing went someone is not in a situation where he should be deemed to be out. I don't think that the Aussies are alone in this regard but it is terrible to see a great advantage gained after such a poor decision. In fact, not just a poor decision, but poor cricket all around - umpiring included.