Lives in Cricket No 14 - Jack Bond

some diplomatic sensitivity as the tour, in March 1990, was the first of its kind since the Falklands War. On earlier tours to the country, MCC had been opposed principally by expatriates, but the sides they now played were made up mostly of locally born-and-bred players, and Jack was relieved to find that the hostilities of eight years earlier never figured in conversations. Ten one-day matches were played, with MCC’s only loss helped by six lbw decisions from their own umpire. ‘They were mostly on the front foot,’ Jack now recalls. ‘All these club players thought they could just push forward and they’d be safe. But they soon learned that they couldn’t!’ Five years earlier, another overseas trip had taken Jack to India. This time he went, accompanied by Florence, as assistant manager on a Christians in Sport tour. Arranged and led by the Reverend Andrew Wingfield-Digby, a man who was later to enjoy a brief spell as chaplain to the England team, the party included prominent county cricketers such as Vic Marks, Roger Knight, Simon Hughes and Graham Cowdrey. Jack’s principal on-field role was as umpire, though he played in one of the games. The timing of the tour is etched in his mind as he and Florence had left with Stephanie about to give birth to her second child. At a time when overseas calls had still to be booked in advance, Jack and Florence emerged from a laying-on of hands and healing service in one of the cathedrals in Madras eager for news of their daughter. But so bad was the Madras pollution that, when they were finally connected to the Jodrell Arms, they found that they had both lost their voices and were unable to speak to Lawrence, leading Jack to quip that two of the people at the healing service must have gone out of the cathedral with Lancashire accents! The last two decades have seen an explosion in the market for winter tours following the fortunes of the England side abroad. Sometimes as many as two dozen different companies organise parties, and a leader in the field is ITC, for whom Jack is one of their most regular and popular ‘cricket personalities’. Jack Simmons, who recommended his former captain for the job, notes how some companies like to find recently retired Test stars, but he says that clients of ITC ring up and say, ‘Which tour is Jack Bond taking? Whichever he’s taking, we’ll go on it.’ To Jack, who is always accompanied by Florence, it is more than just a chance to follow the sun. Hosting a tour is an extension of all 132 ‘He’ll cook the bacon sandwiches’