BOLTON-BORN cricketing legend Jack Bond has been named as one of the inaugural inductees into the Lancashire Cricket Hall of Fame which will celebrate and honour leading figures from the Club’s history.

The Red Rose has a rich heritage and following last year’s restructuring of the Former Players Association, to create an improved relationship between the Club and its former players, the Hall of Fame will now see a number of the counties’ cricketing legends inducted annually.

An exclusive dinner, to celebrate the first seven players to be inducted into the Lancashire Cricket Hall of Fame, will be held in the 1864 Suite at Emirates Old Trafford on Thursday, February 20. Inductees will receive a special Lancashire Cricket Hall of Fame cap at the dinner, with a commemorative booklet produced each year to recognise the latest inductees.

Lancashire Cricket Members can nominate players which will be taken into consideration, with a final decision being made by the Board. To be inducted into the Hall of Fame, players must be retired and not under current employment with the Club.

Bond, who died aged 87 in 2019, joins A N Hornby, Cyril Washbrook, Brian Statham, Farokh Engineer, Sir Clive Lloyd CBE and Jack Simmons as one of the inaugural inductees.

Bond was born in Kearsley and went on to become the most successful captain in Lancashire’s history.

Under his five-year leadership, the Red Rose side won the first two John Player Sunday League titles in 1969 and 1970 and an unprecedented hat-trick of Gillette Cup victories between 1970 and 1972.

Appointed captain in 1968 after 13 years with the county, the former Bolton School pupil emerged from the shadows to hone a collection of promising youngsters such as Barry Wood, David Lloyd, Frank Hayes, Peter Lever and Ken Shuttleworth plus a couple of super-talented overseas stars Farokh Engineer and Clive Lloyd into a formidable one-day force. In later life, he also enjoyed a career as an umpire and continued working at Old Trafford until the age of 81.

Tickets for the Hall of Fame Dinner will be available to purchase soon and cost £50, including a three-course dinner and an intimate Q&A with Engineer, Lloyd and Simmons.