White Cap and Bails: Adventures of a much loved Umpire, the sequel to the bestselling autobiography of the legendary late cricket umpire

by Dickie Bird

In this anecdotal book, the unstoppable Dickie Bird takes one County Cricket Club at a time and revisits each with the aid of memorabilia, statistics, books and videos. A mass of new hilarious stories flow from Dickie as he flexes his memory: he describes the cricketers, the matches and the character of these clubs. Dickie also relives his journeys as a umpire to clubs and Test match arenas overseas and recalls the humorous times that have filled his unique career. A must have for cricket enthusiasts everywhere.

Genres: Autobiography, Sports, Biography

480 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Harold Dennis "Dickie" Bird (19 April 1933 – 22 September 2025) was an English cricketer and international cricket umpire. During his long umpiring career, he became a well regarded figure among players and the viewing public, not only due to his high standards as an umpire but also for his many eccentricities.

Bird played first-class cricket for Yorkshire and Leicestershire as a right-handed batsman, but only scored two centuries in 93 appearances. His career was blighted by a knee injury, which eventually forced him to retire at the age of 31. He umpired in 66 Test matches (at the time a world record) and 69 One Day Internationals, including three World Cup Finals. Bird's autobiography, published in 1997, sold more than a million copies.

Reviews

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Dad & I have always liked dickie and the book s brill plus he talks the same language as me as we are both Yorkshire men old lad it was tat good I am looking for some more of his books.

[Gary K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, loads of stories and facts , really enjoyed it . Up there with Simon Wildes books as great cricket books.

[Marco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again Dickie Bird provides an interesting view of a life spent on the cricket field with some of the games greatest characters.

[Neal Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even as a mad cricket fan, sometimes there was too much padding in this book