Lives in Cricket No 14 - Jack Bond

Chapter Six ‘We need someone to read nine verses’ Jack’s championship average in 1966 was a modest 23.77. In a season where runs were unusually hard to come by across the country, the Lancashire batting was among the weakest, and Jack’s figures were bettered only by Worsley, who had won his cap after dropping down the order, and Pullar, whose meagre 30.82 brought him the top spot. Meanwhile Green endured a poor summer, Knox held a regular place without advancing, and Pilling did not maintain his promise, while other younger players given chances – David Lloyd, Barry Wood and John Sullivan – were still finding their feet in the first-class game. Despite a rise of one place in the table to twelfth, the malaise at Old Trafford went deeper than the frailty of the batting line-up. There was improving support for Statham and Higgs from pace bowlers Ken Shuttleworth and Peter Lever, but a lean year for Tommy Greenhough ended with another talented cricketer added to the long list of those whose time with Lancashire came to an untimely and disenchanted end. ‘Leaving Lancashire virtually destroyed him. Tommy lived for cricket and his leg-spin bowling,’ says Jack, of a player he held in high regard as a cricketer and a man. With Ken Howard also deciding to take leave of the first-class game, there were no spin bowlers left at Old Trafford. Morale remained low. Speaking perhaps primarily of the days before the 1964 revolution, Greenhough was recorded as saying: ‘There was too much interference on team selection from committee men. Too often we went onto the field knowing it wasn’t our strongest team.’ Batsmen, in particular, were known to play for themselves, allowing their end-of-season average to take precedence over the needs of the team. Jack certainly formed this view of some of his team-mates: ‘They were playing for themselves – without a doubt. It was the self-protection racket. On occasions you’d be suspicious with somebody running somebody else out in your own side. It’s a sad thing to say, but professional jealousy is an awful thing, and that did go on for quite a long time.’ 54