FORMER England cricket captain Mike Denness led the tributes to one-time county colleague and Test partner Brian Luckhurst who died on Tuesday at the age of 66.

Mr Luckhurst, from South Alkham near Dover, battled cancer of the oesophagus for almost 10 months yet completed the vast majority of his duties as Kent’s president for 2004/05.

In remembering his opening partner Mr Denness said: "Don’t ask me how but I had an inkling earlier that something was not quite right, yet I went numb when I received the news.

"I’m not ashamed to say there were tears in my eyes either, because when you open the batting for your county and your country together you do get to know a man pretty well.

"My first thoughts were what a damned good fellow Brian was, what a great communicator he was, and how, if asked to do a job, he would never give up until he’d make a success of it.

"I’ve had calls from the world of cricket from people wanting to remember Brian and I can honestly say he was revered within the game.

"For what he achieved, the way he conducted himself and the way he communicated and shared his love of the game all helped make him one of cricket’s unsung heroes."

Apart from scoring 19,000 runs for Kent, Mr Luckhurst forced his way into the England reckoning at the age of 31 by sheer dedication and weight of runs to help England to a memorable 2-0 series win in Australia.

In remembering Mr Luckhurst’s contribution to that 1970/71 Ashes tour, Mr Denness added: "Only three men scored runs on that trip Geoff Boycott, John Edrich and Brian Luckhurst and what Brian did in serving up a series win for his skipper Ray Illingworth was little short of phenomenal.

"His most famous innings was probably the century in the drawn fifth Test at Melbourne when he went off at lunch time and refused to take off his batting glove. He’d been hit on the left hand and went on to score 109 in front of 70,000.

"Only later, when physiotherapist Benard Thomas cut the glove off did the England side find out that Brian had batted on with a fractured knuckle.

"That was the sort of man he was, in fact, he once told me he would even go out and bat left-handed for me if it would help save a game."

Mr Denness continued: "When I became Kent captain I made Brian my lieutenant, my eyes and ears of the dressing room because he had a special knack of picking up the tone of a player or the feeling of the side.

"As a skipper you couldn’t ask for a better right hand man than 'Lucky', but more than that, he was a faithful friend and a great colleague.

"Kent supporters appreciated all that 'Lucky' did for the club and I can honestly say I never heard anyone utter a bad word about him. The club and the game will never see his like again."