Lives in Cricket No 14 - Jack Bond

There was more clumsiness in trying to find a successor to Grieves with a box numbered advertisement in The Times , which was easily identified as relating to Lancashire. There were overtures to A.C.Smith at Warwickshire and suggestions that Cheshire’s Freddie Millett might be persuaded to step in for a year. Nothing materialised and, with some misgivings, the committee turned to Brian Statham, the player whose Test match deeds set him apart from the rest of the staff, and a man who had kept his distance from the worst of the rows and recriminations, while plying his trade of bowling fast, straight and successfully. Even before the sackings it was widely known that morale was as low as it had been for many years in the first-team dressing room, where the senior players were reluctant to welcome newcomers into their circle. ‘Senior professionals protecting senior professionals,’ says Jack, ‘thinking that a young professional was threatening one of their mates’ positions – that did go on.’ Some of the young hopefuls, in turn, found the atmosphere distasteful and had little wish to be picked, preferring life in the second team as Peter Lever, who had joined the county in 1960, recalls: ‘The teams went up on a little notice board where the junior pros were housed. “Oh, so and so is in the first team. Bad luck, son!”’ Jack well remembers senior players trying to rid themselves of any threat that Bob Bennett might pose. Against Cambridge University, a challenging Fenner’s pitch had reduced Lancashire to 69 for seven in their first innings. They recovered to 183 all out, after which they bowled the students out for 181. The county then had to bat a second time on a pitch that was still asking questions of the batsmen. ‘One or two people were thinking the best way of getting rid of Bob was to send him in first, he gets out and that’s that. So Bob went in first and got a hundred – absolutely brilliant. They weren’t thinking of him succeeding – they were only thinking of him failing and he didn’t!’ There was a decisive twist to the shenanigans when disaffected members called for an Extraordinary General Meeting. By an overwhelming majority they registered that they were ‘dissatisfied with the conduct of the cricketing affairs of the club.’ Elections brought fresh blood to the committee and before long the instigator of the rebellion, Manchester businessman Cedric Rhoades, was installed as chairman. A new era had begun, but there was much still to be put right. ‘A Methodist coaching the Catholics’ 52