A fast bowler, who terrorised Bradford's stumps in the 1940s, has passed away - with a cricket ball by his side.

Arthur Doug Bell died in a Canadian nursing home, a month short of his 84th birthday, after a series of strokes.

Doug and his wife, Leon, left their home Great Horton, Bradford, and emigrated to Ontario in 1953.

A bowler of formidable reputation, he played the game wherever he went; for the army during the war; with Park Chapel and Grange Old Boys in the Mutual Sunday School League; then for Hamilton in Canada; and for Henderson Hospital, where he was a volunteer.

He became president of Hamilton Cricket Club, who play in the Ontario league, for whom he had bowled alongside the former West Indies' international Peter White.

Doug, a supporter of Yorkshire, wore a T-shirt bearing the names of last year's championship winning side on his death bed and insisted his wife, Leon, keep him informed of the scores. He died on December 27 and Leon put a cricket ball in his casket.

Leon, 85, who has lung cancer, said: "Doug had a bad year in hospital. He couldn't move and for someone who was once such a keen sportsman it must have been sheer hell.

"I think he thought to himself: 'that's it, I've had it'. I had to send him off with a cricket ball because I knew he would have loved that."

The couple married in Bradford Cathedral in 1948 and had a son Neil, who later had his own children, Shannon and Ryan, with wife Gail.

Former wicketkeeper Tom Priestly, now assistant vice chairman of the Mutual Sunday School League, played alongside Doug for Park Chapel in the late 1940s. He said: "He was a great character to play with. I remember him best as a good batter."

Bertha Rolfe, formerly of Great Horton, is a lifelong friend of the family. She said: "He was a lovely man he would do anything for anybody."