Lives in Cricket No 14 - Jack Bond

with 144, scored his second Roses hundred of the season, while Pilling, Clive Lloyd and Hayes all posted half-centuries. Jack meanwhile maintained his reputation for saving his runs for when they were most needed, contributing just a single – the run traditionally allowed to all beneficiaries. Jack’s tactics ensured that the championship pennant would not be flying over Headingley, but meant that his only realistic route to victory was to enforce the follow on and bowl Yorkshire out twice. However, with Boycott dropping anchor for 98, only three Yorkshire wickets had fallen by the close of play, one of the victims the hapless Padgett who found Boycott unresponsive to his call for the second time in 24 hours. Yorkshire declared their first innings 148 behind in the hope of squeezing an enticing gesture from Jack, but some pedestrian batting was the prelude to a closure that challenged Yorkshire to make 210 in 50 minutes plus the final 20 overs. Even before Boycott was out to the first ball of the innings, it was never a serious prospect. John Woodcock, anticipating some of the excitement of Sunday’s match, had stayed on at Old Trafford, but he now felt compelled to describe the conclusion of the match as ‘the poorest day’s play I have seen all season.’ He told his Times readers that ‘neither Close nor Bond was prepared to make a genuine bid for victory and that, in Lancashire’s case, must have maddened their supporters.’ Challenged to answer this denigration of his captaincy, Jack says, ‘It’s our Test match, the Roses Match.’ There is little need for elaboration: to avoid losing to Yorkshire is, for Lancashire supporters, a priority that transcends all others. The stalemate at Old Trafford was good news for Glamorgan, who had strengthened hopes of retaining their title with a nervy four-wicket win against Derbyshire at Swansea. With some counties having completed their championship programme, several contenders were still tightly bunched behind the leaders, but it was Kent, bottom of the table at the beginning of July, who were now emerging as the pace setters. Beating Nottinghamshire at Folkestone with just three wickets and eight balls in hand, they had now won four of their last five matches. ‘They stormed the gates to get in’ 91