FORMER Oxfordshire captain Joe Banton led the tributes to legendary bowler David Laitt, who died aged 67 on Saturday.

Banton, his long-time captain for the county and also at Cowley St John, said: "David was without doubt the finest bowler ever to play for Oxfordshire.

"He was a wonderful man to have on your side. David never let me down in performance or behaviour in all the time I was his skipper.

"I consider his best performance to have been a Gillette Cup game with Worcestershire at Morris Motors.

"Worcestershire had Glenn Turner, Tom Graveney and Basil D'Oliveira, and on a flat pitch David bowled 12 overs and took 2-7.

"He had plenty of offers to turn professional, but there was just not the money in the game and David had the stability of a good job. There is no doubt in my mind that he would have made it in the first-class game.

"Time and time again, David would come on to bowl on a pitch that was giving no-one any help at all, and suddenly he would have the ball doing all sorts of things. He was a remarkable player."

Laitt's record of 670 wickets in 140 matches is unlikely ever to be beaten.

"David was a five-star bowler and would have been a success if he had played first-class cricket," said Oxfordshire cricket chairman Simon Porter.

"He bowled inswinging leg-cutters from a high action and could prove unplayable.

"As a person, he was a true competitor and he and Joe Banton were a fearsome combination."

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