Tributes to High Peak cricket 'legend' who spent decades playing and volunteering at Whaley Bridge Cricket Club

Player, captain, umpire and groundsman Nick Latham was a true cricketing legend. Pic Russ Wild

On Saturday August, 12 police were called to a home on Goyt Road Whaley Bridge where 71-year-old Nick Latham was found dead.

Nick was very involved with Whaley Bridge Cricket Club as a volunteer and his sudden death has come as a shock to the cricketing community.

The club announced the news on social media saying ‘it's with great sadness we announce the passing of Nick ‘Rigger’ Latham’.

Whaley Bridge Cricket Club chair Russ Wild said: “Nick has been a player, a captain, an umpire and for the last ten years or so he had been our groundsmen.

"He was a true cricket legend and everyone knew him.

"He loved being a groundsman and we had the best pitch in the league because of him."Nick was also involved with the football and bowling clubs.

Russ said: “He had a smile and a kind word for everyone.

"He wasn’t just a talker he was a doer and he was loved and respected by so many.

"I know the whole village and the sporting communities have been shocked by his death.”Other tributes on the cricket club’s social media described Nick as a ‘a lovely man who will be missed greatly’.

One said ‘sadness just doesn’t cover everyone’s feeling of loss, honoured to call him a friend’.

‘He was such a good all round egg. We were privileged to have known you,’ read another.

Derbyshire Police believe the father-of-one visited a number of pubs in Whaley Bridge on Friday August, 11 and is thought to have walked home, leaving The Cock pub at around 11.15pm.

Speaking after Nick was found the police said they were ‘not treating the death as suspicious, but as unexplained’.

Detective Inspector Steve Topham said: “We are working hard to trace his movements in the last 24 hours before his death, and we would like to hear from anyone who may have noticed a man with injuries or something that didn’t seem quite right.”

Derbyshire Police is appealing for any witnesses or people with CCTV, dashcam or doorbell footage to contact Derbyshire Police on 101 quoting 23000499787.