Lives in Cricket No 14 - Jack Bond

Chapter Three ‘You’re a professional cricketer now’ Hornby and Barlow, Archie MacLaren, the Tyldesleys, Harry Makepeace, George Duckworth, Eddie Paynter … when Jack signed his contract he was joining a club proud of its traditions and its successes on the field. Always a county to be reckoned with, Lancashire’s golden era had come in the inter-war years when, in the five summers from 1926 to 1930, there were four championship titles and one second place. Then, in 1934, had come another Championship. When the War brought a halt to county cricket, Lancashire had only twice fallen as low as eleventh in the table, their average position across 46 seasons from 1890 a shade better than fourth. Ten years after the war, memories of the glory days were still fresh in the minds of supporters of middle age or older. And they waited with growing impatience for the county to take the crown once more. There had been near misses. Jack Fallows, pitchforked into the captaincy in 1946, led the county to third place as did Ken Cranston the following summer. In 1950 Nigel Howard’s side shared the title with Surrey, and on three other occasions during his time in charge, Lancashire finished third. But second or third place in the table was not the members’ idea of a satisfactory season. Owners of an historic Test match ground and with a healthy membership, even at a time when budgets were being trimmed, Lancashire was in all respects a big county. The club boasted a large and comparatively well-paid playing staff and, at a time when most of the smaller brethren were worried about the viability of running a second team in the Minor Counties Championship, Lancashire’s programme was for 20 matches, more than any other county chose to play. With such a large staff, there was a hierarchy that newcomers quickly learned to understand. Capped players occupied the main upstairs dressing room with its balcony overlooking the ground, while the juniors piled into their own less well appointed room 24