Harold “Dickie” Hen, one in every of 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.
Hen “died peacefully at house”, Yorkshire CCC wrote in a submit saying Hen’s loss of life on Tuesday.
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He started his umpiring profession in 1973 and officiated in 66 Take a look at 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 closing Take a look at.
Hen’s eccentric and humorous character endeared him to cricket followers all over the world and throughout generations.
Yorkshire referred to as Hen a “nationwide treasure” who was “recognized not just for his umpiring excellence but additionally for his eccentricities and heat”.
“Dickie Hen loved an illustrious profession as a global umpire, writing his identify into historical past as probably the most well-known and in style 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.”
Hen, who bought greater than 1,000,000 copies of his autobiography, was named Yorkshire president in 2014.
Hen’s first-class taking part in profession, which included spells together with his beloved Yorkshire and Leicestershire, was minimize brief by damage on the age of 32 with a mean of 20.71.
He went on to turn into arguably the world’s most well-known umpire, standing in an English county match for the primary time in 1970.
In 1975, Hen took cost of the inaugural males’s Cricket World Cup closing.
“Dickie loved an illustrious profession as an umpire,” the Lord’s-based Marylebone Cricket Membership mentioned, “and was some of the in style officers within the historical past of the sport.”
An umpire lengthy earlier than the introduction of expertise to cricket, Hen 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 in style because the gamers he officiated, by no means refusing to signal an autograph and infrequently was seen ready patiently to take action even when traces had been lengthy. His autobiography was Britain’s biggest-selling sports activities ebook.
It was his idiosyncrasies that made him so liked – the way in which he raised his finger to provide a batter out, his heat and conversational method with gamers, his grin, his stooping gait, how he twitched his arms and tugged at his umpire’s jacket.
Hen listed Garfield Sobers, Sunil Gavaskar, Viv Richards and Dennis Lillee as the most effective gamers he ever umpired. His one remorse in life, Hen instructed 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 bought married as a result of I used to be married to the sport.”
MCC is deeply saddened to listen to of the loss of life of Harold “Dickie” Hen. An Honorary Life Member of the Membership, Dickie loved an illustrious profession as an umpire and was some of the in style officers within the historical past of the sport.
He officiated in 66 males’s Take a look at matches and we had been… pic.twitter.com/r22NSrKCAZ— Lord’s Cricket Floor (@HomeOfCricket) September 23, 2025
