Lives in Cricket No 14 - Jack Bond

bowled twice, once at each end, and I thought, “Is he trying to get me out of the side?” A partnership had gone on with Denness and Knott and, all of a sudden, Jack just came over and he said, “Look, Jack, I’ve waited this long. I know you can get these two out, so go and do it.” And I did! And we won the game. It was just how he said it. I was waiting – why haven’t I had a go before? But before I could even open my mouth, he said, “I’ve saved you for this time so you can get these two out.”’ Peter Lever recalls another instance of Jack’s clever motivation of his bowlers. Ken Shuttleworth, opening with Higgs, was having an off day with his line and length. ‘After about three overs Bondy said, “Pete, come and show this young man how to bowl.” I bowled about five overs and rolled a couple over. They were 50-odd for four or five. Jack said, “Hang on a minute, Pete. Shutt, here’s the ball – that’s how to bowl!”’ Lever, never an easy man from whom to take the ball, retired with his self-esteem boosted while his close mate Shuttleworth had had his confidence restored. A Jack Bond team was always a disciplined side, but it was achieved with a light touch. Jack has few recollections of imposing curfews and petty rules. His philosophy was to trust his players. ‘It didn’t bother me how they enjoyed themselves so long as they didn’t bring the club into disrepute and if they were always fit for the next day’s play. We had a few rows and we had laying down the law, but that was kept to a minimum. Sometimes it would be me taking somebody to one side and letting them know how I felt and what was expected of them.’ He relates just one occasion when he had to take stronger action. ‘I did once get hold of one of the senior players and I told him that we were going to have a team meeting and, for the benefit of everybody, I was going to tell him what I thought to his face. But I warned him first that I was going to do it, rather than blurting it out. It did give him time to think, and I think it was appreciated that it was done that way rather than have a big shouting match at a team meeting in front of everybody else.’ ‘It was the way he held the team together,’ says Farokh Engineer. ‘Yes, he was certainly the best captain I played under.’ 114 ‘The finest captain I played under’