Books

Jack Bond Book

An excellent book, Lancashire Lad, Lancashire Leader, on the career of former Lancashire captain Jack Bond has just been published

Jack Bond claimed that his Methodist creed guided him in the sound principles of man-management that resulted in such one-day success for Lancashire both during his 1969-72 captaincy and afterwards.

.Jack Bond was no mean cricketer. He was an enterprising bat and exhilarating field, as his match-winning and dolphinesque leap to dismiss Kent’s Asif Iqbal in the 1971 Gillette Cup Final at Lord’s bears witness.

He will, however, be best recalled as a superb man-manager, the alchemist behind the brilliant one-day chemistry of these years. For those were the summers when, with the poignant cry of ‘Lanky-sheer Ra-ra-ra’ echoing around the purlieus of St John’s Wood, we Lancashire fans began to regard Lord’s as one of our out-grounds, so frequent were the county’s usually successful appearances there in so many exciting finals.

Jack Bond transformed a fractious dressing room within a sometimes riven club from a bear-garden to another Eden. The result was a side that played together as a hugely entertaining squad; they were a great advert for the sporting concept that, if the players are enjoying themselves, then so will the spectators. Douglas Miller has captured the essence of the man with rare thoughtfulness in a text that honours its subject with well-merited and careful consideration of all aspects of his eventful and useful life.

Eric Midwinter

Douglas Miller - Jack Bond; Lancashire Lad, Lancashire Leader:  £12.00 (inc p&p inside the UK) is available from: Douglas Miller, Piper's Loft, Whiteleaf, Princes Risborough, Bucks HP27 0LT (cheques payable to Douglas Miller)