Harold “Dickie” Chook, one in all cricket’s most well-known and much-loved former umpires , has died on the age of 92, England’s Yorkshire County Cricket Membership (CCC) has introduced.
Chook “died peacefully at house”, Yorkshire CCC wrote in a submit saying Chook’s dying on Tuesday.
Beneficial Tales
record of three objectsfinish of record
He started his umpiring profession in 1973 and officiated in 66 Check matches, 69 males’s one-day internationals and three World Cup finals earlier than retiring in 1996.
He was given a guard of honour at Lord’s Cricket Floor by England and India gamers earlier than his remaining Check.
Chook’s eccentric and humorous character endeared him to cricket followers around the globe and throughout generations.
Yorkshire referred to as Chook a “nationwide treasure” who was “identified not just for his umpiring excellence but in addition for his eccentricities and heat”.
“Dickie Chook loved an illustrious profession as a global umpire, writing his title into historical past as probably the most well-known and well-liked official within the sport’s historical past,” the membership mentioned.
“He leaves behind a legacy of sportsmanship, humility, and pleasure – and a legion of admirers throughout generations.”
Chook, who offered greater than one million copies of his autobiography, was named Yorkshire president in 2014.
Chook’s first-class enjoying profession, which included spells together with his beloved Yorkshire and Leicestershire, was lower brief by damage on the age of 32 with a mean of 20.71.
He went on to turn out to be arguably the world’s most well-known umpire, standing in an English county match for the primary time in 1970.
In 1975, Chook took cost of the inaugural males’s Cricket World Cup remaining.
“Dickie loved an illustrious profession as an umpire,” the Lord’s-based Marylebone Cricket Membership mentioned, “and was one of the crucial well-liked officers within the historical past of the sport.”
An umpire lengthy earlier than the introduction of expertise to cricket, Chook was famend for being cautious together with his selections and making few clear errors, telling the BBC that his mother and father ” instilled this psychological power to imagine in myself”.
In his pomp and in his later years, he was as well-liked because the gamers he officiated, by no means refusing to signal an autograph and infrequently was seen ready patiently to take action even when strains had been lengthy. His autobiography was Britain’s biggest-selling sports activities e-book.
It was his idiosyncrasies that made him so cherished – the best way he raised his finger to offer a batter out, his heat and conversational strategy with gamers, his grin, his stooping gait, how he twitched his arms and tugged at his umpire’s jacket.
Chook listed Garfield Sobers, Sunil Gavaskar, Viv Richards and Dennis Lillee as the perfect gamers he ever umpired. His one remorse in life, Chook advised The Guardian newspaper in 2013, was not having a household.
“I gave my life to cricket. It’s so simple as that,” he mentioned. “I by no means received married as a result of I used to be married to the sport.”
MCC is deeply saddened to listen to of the dying of Harold “Dickie” Chook. An Honorary Life Member of the Membership, Dickie loved an illustrious profession as an umpire and was one of the crucial well-liked officers within the historical past of the sport.
He officiated in 66 males’s Check matches and we had been… pic.twitter.com/r22NSrKCAZ— Lord’s Cricket Floor (@HomeOfCricket) September 23, 2025
