Warwickshire lost one of its greats today with the death of Tom Cartwright.

The 71-year-old had been seriously ill since suffering a heart attack near his home in Neath six weeks ago. Though the extent of his recovery had confounded medical opinion, it was highly unlikely that he would ever have regained the ability to walk or feed himself.

His biographer and friend Stephen Chalke, who had been a regular visit to Cartwright’s hospital bed, said: "He wasn’t uncomfortable or unhappy. He was in no distress and we had seen incremental improvements."

Coventry-born Cartwright was indisputably one of the greatest bowlers to represent Warwickshire. A master of control and variation, Cartwright prospered on uncovered wickets, where his ability to move the ball both ways in the air and off the pitch made him lethal.

He made his debut for the club as a stylish 17-year-old batsman. As the years passed, however, it was his medium-paced bowling that took centre stage and he claimed more than 1,000 first-class wickets for Warwickshire alone. Seven times he claimed more than 100 wickets in a season for the county, peaking with 147 (at 15.52 apiece) in 1967.

Though his batting regressed somewhat, he still achieved the double of 1,000 first-class runs and 100 first-class wickets in 1962 while among his seven centuries was a career-best 210 against Middlesex.

Cartwright left Edgbaston after 17 years of service in some acrimony after failing to gain assurances about his future. Instead he served Somerset with distinction for seven years and then Glamorgan for another year.

He leaves many friends at Edgbaston, however, and flags at the ground are today flying at half mast.

Upon retirement as a player he forged a superb reputation as a coach and is credited by Ian Botham for teaching him almost everything he knew about bowling. Vic Marks, Viv Richards, Robert Croft, Hugh Morris and Steve Watkin are among the other Test players whose progress he helped. He was coach of the Welsh under-16 side last season and was awarded the MBE for services to cricket in 2000.

Despite his phenomenal record in county cricket — 1,536 wickets at 19.11 compares well with any post-war bowler — he played only five Tests.

The fact that he took six for 94 in an innings in his last Test, against Australia in 1965, would suggest he should have played more. Although recalled for the tour of South Africa in 1968-69, he withdrew injured. It is unlikely he would have gone anyway, however. His distaste for the apartheid system was immense and he later refused to play county games against South African touring teams.

The selection of his replacement, Basil D'Oliveira, was the catalyst to South Africa’s exclusion from international sport.

Cartwright’s biography, The Flame Still Burns, which came out in the week of his heart attack, has already been recognised as a classic of its type.

Neal Abberley, chairman of the Warwickshire Old Cricketers’ Association and a former team-mate, said: "He was a lovely man with a great, dry sense of humour.

"He was without doubt, in my playing time, the best bowler day-in and day-out that I ever saw.

"His knowledge has been passed on to many of us coaches, and we are better because of our time with Tom."

Radio Five Live correspondent Pat Murphy had paid many tributes to Cartwright in recent weeks in his columns for the Post.

His article of March 27 was dedicated in its entirety to the man Murphy described as "the best coach England never had".

>> Read Pat Murphy's March 27th tribute to Tom Cartwright here