Lives in Cricket No 14 - Jack Bond

Fourth in the table, Lancashire trailed Glamorgan by nine points. There were games in hand but, with five fixtures remaining, the last three matches would all be against fellow title challengers: Yorkshire, Glamorgan and Surrey. Lancashire now faced the prospect of ten consecutive days of cricket, starting with a trip to New Road, where Worcestershire had yet to lose a championship match. Most of Saturday’s play was lost to the weather, but the rain relented after the weekend to give the spinners a drying pitch. Jack declared Lancashire’s first innings at 143 for six, still 25 adrift of the home side’s total. His gesture was reciprocated by Norman Gifford, but none of Lancashire’s challengers could have complained that Worcestershire’s Ulverston-born skipper was showing his native county any special favours when he set a target of 220 in two hours and a half on a pitch tailor-made for his own bowling and that of fellow left-armer Doug Slade. Lancashire soon slumped to 74 for seven, only 18 overs of stern defence fromHayes and Hughes staving off defeat. The Red Rose frustrations in the Championship, which continued in a high-scoring draw at Trent Bridge later in the week, had again been set aside for the Sabbath. Beating Worcestershire by 39 runs meant that only Kent, five points adrift but with a game in hand, could prevent Lancashire retaining their John Player title. Victory at Old Trafford on the Sunday would seal the first leg of the treble. Meanwhile, with only ten points separating the top six teams, no side was better placed than Lancashire in the Championship: Played Won Lost Drawn Points Glamorgan 22 8 6 8 200 Derbyshire 23 7 6 10 195 Lancashire 21 6 2 13 195 Yorkshire 22 7 5 10 193 Surrey 21 6 3 12 192 Kent 21 7 5 9 190 The script writer’s dream was coming true, the schedule bringing to Old Trafford the traditional Bank Holiday opponents, Yorkshire. The two counties were due to start a championship match on the Saturday before breaking off for the one-day decider on the Sunday. For good measure Jack had chosen the championship game for his benefit. ‘They stormed the gates to get in’ 89