TRIBUTES have been paid to a stalwart of local cricket who has died after an illness.

Ken Gardner, 71, was involved with Hartlepool Cricket Club – both on the playing side and in back room roles – for more than 50 years.

He was also the president of the North Yorkshire South Durham (NYSD) League for eight years during 30 years’ involvement with the league’s management.

Last year, he became only the third person to be inducted into the league’s hall of fame.

He has also been involved with Durham County Cricket Club for 35 years, including spells as a committee member, board member and then trustee of the club.

As a wicketkeeper, he helped Hartlepool to three championship titles in 27 years of playing and became captain, going on to serve the club in various capacities, including secretary, chairman and president.

In 1993, while a personnel officer at SCA Packaging, he was awarded the MBE for his services to industrial relations.

He had been a governor of Hartlepool College of Further Education and served on the Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust and was also an independent member of Cleveland Police Authority.

Mr Gardener, who lived in Tunstall Avenue, Hartlepool, died on Sunday night.

He leaves wife Carole, 66, three sons, Peter, 39, Andrew, 34, and Matthew, 26, and two grandchildren, William, three, and Bartholomew, six months.

Malcolm Pratt, a former president and now life vice-president of Durham County Cricket Club, said: “He was a cricket man through and through.

“He was a Hartlepool stalwart and he made a tremendous contribution to Durham County Cricket Club when he was on the board.

“I served with him for two years when I was president and found him very knowledgeable of both the playing side of the club and the business side.

“He was extremely well-known in County Durham, not just Hartlepool, and he was well respected.”

The current president of the NYSD, Chris West, who succeeded Mr Gardner on his retirement, said: “I still regard Ken as one of my heroes.

“He did a phenomenal amount of work for his club, for the league, and for cricket in general.

He is an impossible person to replace – it is as simple as that.

“He will be mourned throughout cricket in the North-East because he was so widely known.”