Criclet Umpire Dickie Bird's Greatest Test XI

Dickie Bird, who officiated in 66 Tests and stood in three World Cup finals during a 28-year career as a first-class umpire

Dickie Bird conferred Order of the British Empire(OBE)

 Dickie Bird's Biography

Dick Bird's Greatest Test XI

• Sunil Gavaskar
• Barry Richards
• Vivian Richards
• Greg Chappell
• Garfield Sobers
• Graeme Pollock
• Allan Knott (wk)
• Imran Khan (capt)
• Dennis Lillee
• Shane Warne
• Lance Gibbs

 Sunil Gavaskar was termed by Dickie Bird as "one of the two best opening bats" while claiming that Richards "would have broken all the records, but for apartheid".


Dickie Bird, the former international umpire, has not found space for three of the modern era's greatest batsman - Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting - as well as the legendary Don Bradman in his list of the greatest Test XI

Dickie Bird, ahead of his 80th birthday, had his greatest-ever XI published in The Telegraph but conspicuous with their absence from the list were the top ten run-getters in the Test format as well as the man who finished his career with a batting average of 99.94.