DICKIE Bird fears cricket is losing some of its charm in the technology-driven push for umpiring perfection.

Umpires’ decisions now come under intense scrutiny and the pressure in England this summer during a home Ashes series and the Champions Trophy will be considerable.
The decision review system now allows mistakes to be corrected but the process of seeing players challenging decisions is not something that sits easily with the game’s most celebrated former official. Bird, who celebrates his 80th birthday this week, told Press Association Sport: “I am all for helping umpires all we can – we must do that.”
He added: “But we are going a bit too far with these electronic aids. When electronic aids make all the decisions I think it is sad for the game. All the authority has been taken away from the umpire.
“When you made your own decisions you used to get a lot of pleasure if you’d made a good one. In my era, if an umpire made a mistake people talked about it in pubs and clubs, in the press, on television and radio. It was part of the game, it was marvellous – but it has all changed. When players ask for reviews sometimes it takes five minutes or so before the decision.
“It is all wasting time – people pay a lot of money to watch Test matches and I don’t think people like to see the game stopped. They want it to keep flowing. But that’s just my opinion. We’ll see a lot more changes come into the game, I’m sure. I don’t know if it is good or bad.”
Bird, who stood in 66 Test matches and 69 one-day internationals before his retirement in 1998, reflects more on his time in the game in his newly-published book, ’80 Not Out – My Favourite Cricket Memories’.
The Yorkshireman remains an avid watcher of cricket, attending all home Tests and ODIs as well as many of his beloved Yorkshire’s fixtures, but he does rue how times have changed.
Reflecting on his motivation for the book, he said: “I have had that many stories to tell from my career. There were so many characters about but I think the characters have gone out of the game now. Everybody takes everything seriously and they don’t smile anymore.
“I do miss it. You are bound to but there is nothing you can do about it. You can’t stop time. It is no good thinking about it. You look back on the memories, and I have some wonderful memories I shall treasure for the rest of my life.” (PA Sport)