Jack Fallows

Wisden obituary
Jack Fallows died suddenly at his Macclesfield home on January 20 at the age of 67, and a man with a long record of service to cricket in general and Lancashire in particular passed from the sporting scene. A club cricketer of high repute in the 1930s, Fallows played in several leagues in the Greater Manchester area and captained Romiley as well as the Manchester side that was in reality the training ground for all the Lancashire recruits in the days prior to the war. As a batsman he had his limitations but scored runs galore, and in the field he held his catches; but it was when he was asked and jumped at the chance to captain Lancashire in 1946 that Jack Fallows was happiest. His father had long been a leading official at Old Trafford and the appointment of his son to lead Lancashire and rebuild a side around the capped players available came as a surprise to the Lancashire members as well as the public. It was no secret that Lancashire offered the captaincy to several men before turning to Fallows, who had reached the rank of major in the war and returned to civilian life with a proud military record. Acknowledging his lack of experience in top-class cricket Fallows leaned heavily on Cyril Washbrook, Winston Place, Eddie Phillipson and Dick Pollard, the only pre-war capped players available. Around them he built a side that challenged for the Championship until the closing weeks of the season when bad luck with the toss and the weather set Lancashire back. Fallows did little with the bat but he 'blooded' new men like John Ikin, Geoff Edrich and Alan Wharton and blended them into a side to be respected. The players and the cricketing public recognised the merit in Fallows' leadership but alas the Lancashire committee did not. They approached and appointed Ken Cranston to take over and allowed their intentions to be leaked in the Press before telling Fallows what they had in mind. It was a blunder of major importance but no blame lay with Cranston, a talented all-rounder who won England caps almost straight away, yet could never lead a side with the flair and understanding of the man he succeeded. Disillusioned but never bitter Jack Fallows returned to club cricket and played occasionally with Cheshire. For a time 'when resident in the West Country he served on the Somerset committee but came back to Old Trafford in the committee upheaval of 1964 when a vote of no confidence saw six new men elected. Fallows was one and he was appointed chairman of the Cricket SubCommittee and set about the vital task of bridging the gulf that had developed between players and committee. First with Brian Statham as captain and then when Jack Bond took over, Fallows was the 'link' man binding players to officials in a manner to be envied . . . and Lancashire cricket was the envy of the sporting world. A man of emotion, Jack Fallows was often carried away with the success of the side he did so much to build and when, two years ago, he had to resign from the club committee to concentrate on a business appointment things were never quite the same. The players missed a friend and officials regretted the absence of a colleague but few were prepared for the end that came so suddenly at a time when Jack Follows was planning a return to the cricketing scene. To me he was one of Lancashire's loyalists. A man of many parts, an emotional character, yet a cricketer of rare gifts.
John Arlott, The Cricketer, May 1974