Paul James Bird played first-class and List A cricket for Somerset in 1994. He was born in Bristol. In senior cricket Bird was a tail-end right-handed batsman and a right-arm fast-medium bowler. He represented all Somerset youth teams from U11s to U19s and played club cricket for Optimists CC - he was a member of the Optimists team that won the National Knockout final at Lords in 1992. After playing for Optimists and appearing in one second eleven match for Gloucestershire, he joined Somerset's staff for the 1994 season and immediately broke into the first team to play in two first-class matches and five limited-overs games. In this season, for the Somerset second eleven, Bird took 39 wickets at an average of 22 – helping Somerset win the Rapid Cricketline 2nd XI Championship. His highlights for the Somerset first eleven were bowling out Brian Lara in a List A match live on television and also claiming the wicket of Mike Atherton at Old Trafford. He did not make a lot of impact in the County Championship in his first year, as he failed to take a wicket in his first two games. His bowling was more successful in List A games – proving extremely miserly and averaging only 4.5 runs an over across his five games. His best List A bowling figures were one wicket for 18 runs against Glamorgan. Bird signed a new two year contract with Somerset at the end of the 1994 season - as ten other players were released from the playing staff. With a much smaller first eleven squad and having been promised a long run in the first team, Bird then had to retire in June in the 1995 season with a serious shoulder injury just as his career was taking off. He played for McKinnon Cricket Club in Melbourne, Australia in 1993 and 1995 – winning their bowler of the year both seasons. Bird played club cricket for Chippenham CC in the West of England Premier League division one in 1999 and 2000. He played for Claverham CC, in Somerset, from 2001 to 2018 and helped them win the Bristol and Somerset League in 2004 and 2015. He retired from playing cricket at the end of the 2018 season. His daughter, Alice Bird, has played for the Somerset County Cricket Club girls youth teams since 2017. She plays her club cricket for Weston super Mare CC. Bird worked in sales and marketing for Imperial Tobacco for 20 years and now owns the Cuban Cigar Specialist 'Birds of Baldwin Street' in the city centre of Bristol. https://www.diomedia.com/imagePreview/01ASWJZJ?imageId=17549324&imageCode=01ASWJZJ&contributor=UPPA&siteName=www.diomedia.com&title=&location=&ds=800&newStyle=1&tc=FFFFFF&tbc=333333&qv=95&icc=1&cl=1 http://bristolcigars.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/la.jpg
