Know about greatest Umpires of the 'Gentleman's Game'

New Delhi: Cricket is probably the only game where one would hardly see players misbehaving with umpires even if they make wrong decisions. In fact it's quite common to see players and umpires joking in the field. Cricket 'the Gentlemen's game' has given us some of the best umpires in the sport who have been highly respected. Though now days the Decision Review System (DRS) is in force to reduce the margin of errors but there was a time when no such system had existed and even than an umpire's decision was taken as full and final.With the game's popularity going up and parks getting filled with noisy crowd, it has become much more difficult for Umpires to make a correct decision particularly if its an appeal for caught behind as the sound of a thin nick usually gets lost in noise. Nevertheless India TV looks at some of the best umpires Cricket would always be proud of.1) Dickie Bird: Harold Dennis Bird aka Dickie Bird is amongst the most reputed and famous umpires of the gentlemen's game. In his early days, Dikkie worked as a coalminer. Before stepping into the Cricket field, he followed his first love football but had to quit in between due to a knee injury. He started playing county cricket for Yorkshire and coached for a period of time before taking-up the umpiring.He stood in his first county game in 1970 and officiated at his first Test match played between England and New Zealand in Leeds.Umpire Dickie Bird stood out there in the centre for three world cup finals-1975, 1979 and 1983.Bird received the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2012 for his contributions to the game of cricket and charity.Bird holds the record of officiating in most number of Test matches in a country (54 matches in England) .2) David Shepherd: David Shephered was one of the world's best cricket umpires. He played county cricket for Gloucestershire for 14 years and later went on to become umpire and stay connected with the game.David Shepherd stood in three consecutive World Cup, finals in 1996, 1999 and 2003. David was known for his cuteness and light heartedness on the field.An interesting fact about David Shepherd was that he would jig or hop whenever when ever the scoreboard displayed same three digit numbers.He officiated in 172 ODI's and 92 Test matches before he retired. He died of lung cancer on 27 October 2009 in Devon.3) Billy Bowden: Brent Fraser "Billy" Bowden is from New Zealand who took up umpiring after suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. His funny and weird signaling style made him popular among cricket fraternity.Due to rheumatoid arthritis Billy couldn't signal the batsman out in conventional manner, which led to "crooked finger of doom" out signal.He has also innovated his own style of other signals, including a "crumb-sweeping" wave of the arm to signal four, and the "double crooked finger six-phase hop" to signal a six. His signals are calm in Tests, more flashy in ODIs and decidedly flamboyant in Twenty20.Till now Billy has stood in 75 ODIs, 181 Tests and 19 T20s so far.4) Aleem Dar: Aleem Sarwar Dar is a retired Pakistani first-class player. Aleem Dar is counted amongst the most reputed umpires of the game and has won three consecutive ICC Umpire of the Year awards in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Dar made his debut in 2000 during a match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka.Till date, Aleem Dar has officiated in 74 Test matches and 151 ODIs.5) Simon Taufel: Simon Taufel is considered one of the best umpire in the business. He started his career as a medium-fast bowler but suffered a serious back injury leading to his career ending abruptly. soon, took umpiring as another career option. In a short span of time he gained recognition and became the youngest person to have received the ICC's Bronze Bails Award for umpiring 100 ODI.Taufel has officiated in 74 tests, 174 ODIs and 34 T20s.Taufel announced his retirement from international cricket after the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 final and is now the Umpire Performance and Training Manager.6) Rudi Koertzen: Rudi Koertzen had always been a cricket enthusiast and started umpiring in 1981. He has been known for his "slow death" style of indicating the batsman out.He has officiated in 108 Tests and 206 ODIs along-with 14 T20s. He was also the first umpire to stand in 200 ODIs.7) Daryl Harper: Daryl Johny Harper is an Australian Umpire and was a member of the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires from 2002-2011.Daryl faced criticism from India during the India-West Indies Test series and had to quit umpiring from all formats of the game as there were claims his umpiring standards had hit an all time low.Dary Harper officiated in 94 Tests and 174 ODI's and won ICC Bronze Bails Award for 100 ODIs.8) Ian Gould: Ian James Gould aka 'Gunner' was a football enthusiast and an English cricketer. Presently, he is the chairman of English football club Burnham FC.Gould has represented one of England's best clubs Arsenal as a goalkeeper. He played few ODI matches for England and Later became an umpire.Ian Gould has officiated in 30 Test matches and 73 ODIs.9) Tony Hill: Anthony Lloyd Hill has had a prolific career as an umpire on the international stage and he continues to do so.He first officiated in an ODI match played between New Zealand and Zimbabwe in 1998 followed by his first test match as umpire in 2001 played between New Zealand and Bangladesh.2009 was a happy year for him as he was drafted into the ICC Elite Umpires panel then.10) Steve Bucknor: Steve Bucknor was one of cricket's most experienced umpires who was also known for his ‘no nonsense' attitude. He started his career as a football referee.He has officiated in 128 Test matches and 181 ODIs.His career came to a very controversial end when he shot out several wrong decisions in a test match between Australia and India in 2007 for which he was barred from umpiring for a while.