Lives in Cricket No 14 - Jack Bond

bowled Woody at that end. And straightaway he got a wicket. Some people, even if he‘d got a wicket, would have taken him off and still put the other bowler on, but I kept Woody on and he kept chipping in with a wicket. So what do you do? He wouldn’t have let me take him off!’ Barry Wood’s final figures were 19-6-52-7, the best of his career. Seventies from Pullar and Pilling gave Lancashire a lead of 51 on first innings and, when the pace men bowled the visitors out a second time for 185, the target was 135 in just under two hours. Jack came in at 47 for four. Soon it was 80 for five but, partnered by David Lloyd for most of the way, he saw his side home with five deliveries to spare. His undefeated 35 was top score and set a pattern whereby, in tight situations when runs were needed for victory, it was invariably the skipper who led the side past the winning post. Forty years may have passed, but Jack still cherishes the memory of this first elusive victory: ‘It was Ken Shuttleworth in at the end. He hit the winning run, a tickle down the leg side.’ It would be some time before Lancashire could celebrate victory again, and Jack’s next mission was a rearguard action to stave off defeat in a rain-affected match against Kent. From 10 for five in their second innings, with help from Lloyd and Engineer, Jack steered the ship to safety. Another four draws, inclement weather invariably playing a part, preceded the next success, another tight, low-scoring match, this time against Sussex at Eastbourne. Successive scores read: Sussex 80; Lancashire 88; Sussex 78. It was a field day for the faster bowlers, of whom none fared better than Allan Jones, in later years a first-class umpire, but now playing in only his second county match, who took eight for 25 in the first innings. Yet, with Lancashire needing 71 to win, he was to become the villain of the piece and Jack the hero. ‘This total was reached,’ Wisden recorded, ‘only through sensible batting by the captain, Bond, and two dropped catches. Both fielding lapses were by Jones. He misjudged the first catch at mid-off when Bond was 23, and off the second ball of the last over he put down a return offered by Statham.’ Victory came with two wickets and three balls to spare, Jack finishing with 32 not out. Jack looks back on the kind of match that is no longer seen by the spectator at today’s first-class game. ‘There’s no way you’d have had a result like that if it hadn’t been a rain-affected pitch. Allan 68 ‘You’ll have to have all your teeth out’