Lives in Cricket No 14 - Jack Bond

There were no first-team bonus payments for Jack in his second summer with Lancashire, when his Second Eleven figures – 494 runs at 23.52 – did not quite match his debut season, but it was enough for his contract to be extended. In 1957 his season began with 181 against Northumberland, and a further run of good scores – 102 against Notts, a pair of fifties against Cheshire and another half-century against Yorkshire – won him a place in the first team. The senior side had started the season brightly, but three defeats in four matches had prompted changes. With macabre timing it meant that Jack would once again be playing against Surrey at Old Trafford. This time Lancashire spent the first day in the field – and Jack made his mark with a catch off Tattersall that found the newspapers searching for new superlatives. For one reporter it was ‘the catch of the year’; for another, ‘the catch which Old Trafford venerables say was the greatest they have ever seen.’ Peter May, at his imperious best, had reached exactly 100 when ‘Bond raced 50 yards from long-off, launched himself seven yards into space, got both hands to the searing ball, rolled over twice – and triumphantly held it up.’ Jack reads the old report with some astonishment ‘Fifty yards! And diving seven yards – Superman couldn’t have done that!’ The grateful bowler remembers his own disbelief and adds: ‘He was a very good fielder, was Jack. Close to the wicket, too, he made some beautiful catches.’ In an innings defeat, with most batsmen failing and not a first-innings run coming from the last six batsmen, Jack, at 30 ‘You’re a professional cricketer now’ How Eric ‘Sketchbook’ Thompson of the Daily Mail saw Jack’s catch in the home match against Surrey in June 1957.