Dickie Bird, who has died at the age of 92, broke the old rule that a sporting official should never be noticed. Anil Kumble, the Indian leg-spinner, said: ‘Dickie Bird didn’t just umpire the game. At Headingley in 1988, during another West Indies Test, Bird was heckled by spectators after a burst water pipe on the outfield halted play. He was a regular visitor to county and international matches at Headingley, and funded the Dickie Bird Players’ Balcony with £125,000 of his own cash. Years later, Bird reckoned he had spotted the cap on the head of a London bus conductor, who told him: ‘Haven’t you heard of Mr Dickie Bird?