A father has paid tribute to his sports mad son who has died from multiple sclerosis, aged 24.

Keith Johnson said his son James played cricket for the first and second teams of Cleckheaton Cricket Club as a teenager and was a real all-rounder.

The former Whitecliffe Mount Comprehensive School pupil, who stood 6ft 5in tall, lived in Wyke Lane, Oakenshaw, until he moved to Torquay to study leisure and sports at college.

Mr Johnson said in 1996 James was struck down with multiple sclerosis and after a brave three-year battle with the disease, which attacks the nervous system, he died last week.

Tomorrow he will be cremated in Torquay before his ashes are brought up to be buried alongside his mother Ann in Cleckheaton New Cemetery.

Mr Johnson, who lives in Torquay with his only remaining son Matthew, 16, said: "My wife Ann died very young at 37 from cancer. She actually worked at the Telegraph & Argus in the library from 1971/72.

"When James first got ill it just started with backache which he saw a chiropractor for. Then his legs started to shake uncontrollably. It got so bad I had to carry him to and from the car.

"He had to go into a nursing home and although a lot of people who get MS go into remission he never came out of it. The doctors said it was one of the worst cases they'd seen."

Mr Johnson, who is retired on medical grounds, said his son was a polite and well-mannered lad who was "quite threatening when bowling" but would never hurt anybody.

Bob Speight, secretary of Cleckheaton Cricket Club, said James was a talented cricketer and could have become a strong Bradford League player.

He said: "He joined the club when he about eight and by the time he was 14 was already over 6ft tall.

"When he came out for the junior sides the opposition used to accuse us of fielding a team of over-age players.

"He had all the makings of a very good cricketer and he was very well liked and respected."

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