PETER Briggs, one of the key figures in the successful bid to get Geoffrey Boycott re-instated as a Yorkshire player after his sacking by the club at the end of the 1983 season, has died aged 80.

Briggs, from Davyhulme, Manchester, was chairman of the Yorkshire Reform Group which opposed Boycott losing the captaincy following the 1977 season, and he later became chairman of Yorkshire Members 1984, who forced the special general meeting of the county club that overturned the decision not to renew Boycott's contract.

The Yorkshire committee were forced to resign and new elections brought in a committee comprised mainly of Boycott sympathisers, including the club's new chairman Reg Kirk, from Hull.

The funeral will be held at 11.45am tomorrow [Wednesday] at St Mary The Virgin Church, Davyhulme Road, Davyhulme, followed by cremation at Dunham Crematorium, Dunham Massey, Altrincham.