Lives in Cricket No 14 - Jack Bond

In 1983 Peter Lever joined as first-team coach. He had admired Jack’s captaincy and, for all his Yorkshire stubbornness, he had fitted into the team as a player; but, in their different roles, it wasn’t so easy and it was soon less certain in the dressing room who was running the show – manager, coach or captain. ‘It never works when there’s two people in charge,’ one former player comments, with the question of the person to whom the players reported further confused by trying to guess who might be in favour with the committee. Where the successful team that Jack had captained had all enjoyed each other’s company, now cliques formed. The culture of fear, so prevalent in the Old Trafford of the 1960s, returned, and it was nurtured by lack of success. Cedric Rhoades had done much to help put Lancashire back on the road, but he was under growing pressure from lack of success. ‘At first he was fighting for the players,’ says Peter Lever, ‘but then his own importance overtook his initial aims.’ Rhoades had championed Jack’s return, and he had spoken of his manager having unfettered control of teammatters, but by the start of 1986 ten seasons had passed with Lancashire no higher than twelfth in the championship table. Changes of captain continued. After the 1980 season, the third for Frank Hayes, Clive Lloyd was appointed. A highly successful captain of an exceptional Test side, Lloyd himself has always felt that he might have done better for his adopted county had he been installed earlier. Now he had poor quality bricks with which to build and, though still a fine batsman, he was not quite the force he had been, while trouble with his back had ended his days as an inspirational fielder in the covers and he had to be content to direct affairs from slip. With Lloyd again leading the touring team in 1984, a new skipper was required and Jack promoted John Abrahams. After waiting ten years to win his county cap, Abrahams had enjoyed two decent seasons with the bat and had personal qualities that appealed to Jack. ‘John had had to fight his way through the game like I had to.’ The appointment was not universally welcomed among the players and there were doubters on the committee. Nevertheless Jack felt his chosen man did a decent job in his first year, the highlight of which was winning the Benson and Hedges Cup, in which Peter May’s surprise choice as the final’s Man of the Match was the Lancashire skipper. Abrahams had made a duck, but won the award for his captaincy and fielding. 124 ‘I don’t mean me – I mean thee!’