Lives in Cricket No 14 - Jack Bond

The man who had been appointed ‘until we find someone else’ had led Lancashire for five years. Stephen Chalke, in an article for the Wisden Cricketer , has shown that only two county captains, Mark Alleyne with Gloucestershire and Mike Denness at Kent, have exceeded Jack’s five one-day titles but, whereas Alleyne’s seven successes came from 24 opportunities and Denness led Kent in 17 campaigns for his six victories, Jack’s five titles were won after leading his side in just ten limited-over competitions. For Farokh Engineer, who speaks in reverential tones of his first Bombay captain Polly Umrigar, and who went on to play his 46 Tests under five different men, Jack remains ‘the finest captain I ever played under.’ To Peter Lever, who developed into an England player under Jack, he was ‘a fabulous captain. I was very fortunate in that Jack Bond and Raymond Illingworth, my England captain, were the two best captains in the country.’ What made a journeyman player such an outstandingly successful captain? Clive Lloyd has no doubts: ‘Jack’s great strength was that he knew about teamwork. He was such a good man personally that you wanted to do well for him.’ ‘He was such a lovable person,’ says Farokh Engineer. ‘Everybody wanted to play for Bondy. Nobody took advantage of him.’ Being a Lancastrian to the core, and one who had come through the ranks, commended him to his players, but for Jack Simmons it was also the emphasis he put on team ‘The finest captain I played under’ 111 Jack bids farewell to the Lancashire team in 1972.