Lives in Cricket No 14 - Jack Bond

go to lunch and I was on 96. We came off and we bowled for five minutes, two overs.’ Blackledge’s challenge set Hampshire, the reigning champions, to make 318 at 79 an hour. In the words of The Times , the declaration was ‘a delicate piece of timing.’ A splendid match ended in a three-wicket win for the home team off the fourth ball of the final over. At the death, Joe Blackledge’s bowlers failed him. There was a muddle over a crucial run out, and the luck the new captain so badly needed ran against him, as it would all summer. Soon Jack was scoring runs as never before. In four matches he had three centuries: 109 against the Pakistanis; 118 off the Essex bowlers; then 144 in the Roses Match at Leeds. There was a career-best 157 against Hampshire and another Roses hundred later in the season as he became the second batsman in the country to pass 2,000 runs, reaching the landmark one hour after Roy Marshall. As Jack points out, such records can come more readily in a weak side: ‘We nearly always fielded once and batted twice – we were that sort of a side. I must have had 60 innings.’ Very true – he had 67 in all first-class matches. His name was mentioned as a possible for the tour of Australia, though he was not among the 29 players to whom availability enquiries were sent. At the peak of his career as a batsman that summer, Jack awaited the 1963 season with rare confidence. But it was not long before his high hopes were to be dashed. In only the second match, against the West Indian tourists at Old Trafford, he suffered an injury that would blight the rest of his career. He had made 21 in the first innings and, when Lancashire were asked to follow on, he was very soon back at the crease. Both openers had been dismissed for ducks and Jack was engaged with his new captain, Ken Grieves, in a rearguard action to save the match. On 26 he was facing Wes Hall, perhaps the most feared fast bowler of his day, when a short-pitched ball reared up at him. ‘You’re always taught to watch the ball even when you duck. I put my hand up and it hit my wrist.’ Jack’s arm went numb and he was in obvious pain, but he chuckles at the memory of umpire Charlie Elliott’s advice when he had to admit that he couldn’t hold the bat and would have to go off. ‘He said, “You may as well, Jack. After all, it’s only a friendly match!”’ A bad break was later diagnosed. His wrist in plaster, Jack played no cricket for nine weeks. There was one game with the second eleven in mid-July, bringing 44 against Derbyshire, before he was 38 ‘After all, it’s only a friendly match’