Lives in Cricket No 14 - Jack Bond

Pearce, manager of the MCC team with which he was touring India and Pakistan. There was no letter of thanks or explanation. Bob now looks back sadly on a period in his career when cricket gave him little pleasure. His sorrow is the greater for his belief that he inherited a talented team that could have won Championships for Lancashire. He speaks, for instance, of Pullar as ‘the most beautiful left-handed off-side – yes, off-side – player I had seen,’ of Marner as having ‘more to offer, a width of ability, a greater range of shots, than Ted Dexter at an early stage’ and of Greenhough as ‘richly talented and a wonderful teamman’. Though he had already felt himself less welcome in the dressing room once he had become the captain in waiting, and despite regrets at the enforced distancing from his team, he still says: ‘To the many immensely talented cricketers who played under me in the 60s, I have nothing but fond memories and abiding affection.’ Bob Barber acknowledges benefiting from an initial impetus when he first took charge of a side glad to see the back of Washbrook, a man with the county’s best interests at heart, but too strict a disciplinarian for many of his players. Bob remains proud of his first few months in charge, but he believes that his side was thwarted by Old Trafford pitches that were too good to produce results and he points to the weather, as so often, frustrating Lancashire in August. He also admits to a divided dressing room in which ‘the heavy brigade’, as a group of players styled themselves, could lead younger team-mates astray, though one man on whom he could count was Jack: ‘Jackie always gave me the impression that he was a decent, well-balanced man. He was friendly to all. He didn’t get involved with the “heavy brigade” off the field. Yet he enjoyed a beer, got on pleasantly with everybody and was 100% a team man. A decent bat, he would attack or defend as circumstances dictated, a splendid field; a good man. What else do you want?’ Bob expands on what he strove for at Old Trafford: ‘I wanted a team of 100% committed professionals whose clear objective was to develop their own and the team’s abilities. It called for some control of the “good time” element without losing the fun of playing. It required not just a captain who wished for it, but for all the club to be kicking in the same direction.’ The committee at this time included some good men, Bob felt, ‘but also too many wanting to boost their businesses or their egos so 42 ‘After all, it’s only a friendly match’