A village cricket club has been left an incredible £4 million legacy by its wealthy founder.

Preston Nomads club looks set to inherit the money, which will be used to improve their grounds in Fulking, thanks to the generosity of the late multi-

millionaire Spen Cama.

The elderly cricket enthusiast had no children or close family when he died a year ago, aged 92, leaving £23 million.

Instead, he gave his entire fortune to a string of good causes.

He also bequeathed about £7 million to Sussex County Cricket Club.

Mr Cama established Preston Nomads at the age of 18 before training as a barrister and making his fortune in property.

Club chairman David Bowden said: "He was a self-made man. Cricket was his love.

"He was a very successful and shrewd businessman but also someone with immense charm and a sense of modesty. He was very likeable.

"He treated cricket as a game to be enjoyed in a competitive but sportsman-like way.

"The club is very proud of that position and always plays with that approach in mind.

"We want to maintain his ways, which are another legacy he left to this club."

The club was homeless until Mr Cama bought the ground at Fulking, providing it with a pavilion in 1982.

He was a familiar face there until his health deteriorated.

He spent his final years being cared for in a Brighton nursing home.

Mr Cama, who was a former president of Sussex County Cricket Club, went on regular trips abroad with the England team and was acknowledged as one of their most loyal supporters.

But his first love was the club he founded 76 years ago.

Mr Bowden said: "It's a huge sum for us to have inherited. We want to use it to improve the wicket square in one of our grounds. It's artificial net at the moment but we'd like to make it grass.

"We are in an area of outstanding national beauty so in planning terms we will have to meet strict conditions.

"We want to make the area even more pretty with landscaping and want to enhance the environment rather than challenge it.

"Another important project we want to use the money for is encouraging the development of youth cricket in our own organisation and beyond that.

"We want to open up opportunities for liaising with schools. I like to see this money as being not just for us but for cricket generally and in particular for youth cricket."