Lives in Cricket No 14 - Jack Bond

the problems is that the better you get at chasing and the higher you are in the Championship, the harder they set the targets for you, knowing that you’re committed to giving it a go. Then you can get in trouble and end up looking for a draw.’ This was Lancashire’s fate in their next engagement, against Hampshire at Southampton, where the home team dictated the shape of the match before Roy Marshall challenged Lancashire to make 259 at 78 an hour. When the last 20 overs began with just 99 needed and five wickets intact, victory had been in Lancashire’s sights. Frank Hayes, in only his second match for the county, had set the innings alight, but when he fell one short of a maiden century, Lancashire’s chances went with him. As in the Essex match, the county’s lifeline was a last-wicket stand, this time between two stand-ins, keeper Keith Goodwin and pace bowler Mike Staziker, who survived eleven balls together to stave off defeat. Manchester rain spoiled the Notts game, but the next match, against Somerset at Southport, brought a tantalising spectre of victory as Lancashire chased 162 in just under two hours. ‘There was a kind of voluble hush around the ground, as near as Lancashire can get to the breathless variety,’ wrote Alan Gibson in The Times as Shuttleworth faced up to the final over. With last man Lever for company and 12 runs required, he could manage only a pair of twos. This was the third time in 12 championship matches that Lancashire had been taken to the brink of defeat with all resting on their last pair. Yet Jack’s side were still undefeated in the Championship – a claim no other county could make – and, with a game in hand over the leaders, they remained well placed in the table: Played Won Lost Drawn Points Surrey 13 5 1 7 133 Glamorgan 15 5 6 4 130 Sussex 15 4 3 8 129 Lancashire 12 4 0 8 126 Northants 14 4 3 7 126 Meanwhile, with nine matches played, Lancashire were clear leaders in the John Player table, their solitary loss the controversial rain-affected game against Kent, who now claimed second place, four points behind. The one-day specialists, as the team were ‘They stormed the gates to get in’ 85