Lives in Cricket No 14 - Jack Bond

Contents Introduction 5 Chapter One: ‘Don’t call him Little John’ 7 Chapter Two: ‘We thought you were nineteen’ 15 Chapter Three: ‘You’re a professional cricketer now’ 24 Chapter Four: ‘After all, it’s only a friendly match’ 35 Chapter Five: ‘A Methodist coaching the Catholics’ 46 Chapter Six: ‘We need someone to read nine verses’ 54 Chapter Seven: ‘You’ll have to have all your teeth out’ 60 Chapter Eight: ‘And there was this new competition’ 72 Chapter Nine: ‘They stormed the gates to get in’ 80 Chapter Ten: ‘A great catch to end a great innings’ 97 Chapter Eleven: ‘The finest captain I played under’ 108 Chapter Twelve: ‘Nobody ever locked their doors’ 115 Chapter Thirteen: ‘I don’t mean me – I mean thee!’ 122 Chapter Fourteen: ‘He’ll cook the bacon sandwiches’ 129 Acknowledgements and Bibliography 136 Appendix: Career Statistics 138 Index 140 3