Hunter Cummings, president of the Durham County Cricket League and a man as tireless as he was unassuming, has died after a long illness. He was 80.

Hunter was chiefly a Tudhoe man, worked 14 hour days on the ground, insisted that it was nothing out of the ordinary. "They only remember me because of my unusual name," he once said.

A 1989 "Service to Sport" citation thought differently. "He alone was instrumental in doubling the size of Tudhoe's facilities, working unceasingly without any reward whatsoever."

They tended to embroider things a little bit, Hunter told the column at the time, and tried to persuade us to write of others instead. He also won awards from both club and league, if not from his ever-loyal wife Lottie. "I've never been neglected," she said at the time. "I was all right in the winter."

His funeral is at Byers Green Methodist Church, near Spennymoor, at 1 10pm tomorrow, his praises echoed by County League secretary Roy Coates. "Hunter knew cricket inside out, especially the Durham County League, and nothing was ever a bother to him. "His advice was always good and, when he was fitter, his energy endless. Unfortunately there aren't many like Hunter left."