Lives in Cricket No 14 - Jack Bond

already made their mark in the first-class game or would soon do so. He mentions Jack Robertson, Syd Brown and Alan Thompson as batsmen, and there were two bowlers, Fred Titmus and Alan Moss, who would soon be playing for England, and another, John Warr, who had just done so. Batting in the middle order, Jack came in shortly before the declaration, joining Harry Thompson at the wicket. He scored an undefeated 18, and he still remembers how the innings was composed: ‘The first one was a six – it went over extra cover towards where the Warner Stand is now. That was a shot that, when I came to Lancashire, Stan Worthington tried to coach out of me – I had to keep the ball on the ground. Six, five, four, three and then we declared. The five was an overthrow.’ Jack’s batting partner, still going strong at the age of 86, recalls that the six was off the bowling of Moss and he remembers the pace bowler’s reaction: ‘He said, “You can’t do that to me.” And Jack, in his broad Lancashire accent, said, “Can’t I? Well I’ve just done it!”’ In years to come Lord’s would become the ground on which Jack would enjoy many of the proudest moments of his career, but they would struggle to surpass the thrill of treading the hallowed turf for the first time – and joining a select band whose first scoring shot at Lord’s was a six. ‘Don’t call him Little John’ 14 Over extra-cover. The shot that Stan Worthington tried to discourage.