I am now thirty-eight years old. I’m not ancient by any means, but the aches and pains I suffer after playing cricket are increasing noticeably. When I wake up in the morning after the first game of the season, my back is stiff and my hamstrings feel as tight as tigers. And if I’ve bowled a few overs my right shoulder is traumatised. It’s not fun being the least supple man in the universe.
Consequently, when I learned that Geraint Jones, also thirty-eight years old, has signed a contract to captain Gloucestershire in first class cricket next summer, I felt humbled. Geraint is still fit as a fiddle, winning friends wherever he goes, and has plenty of fuel left in his tank. He makes me feel even more inadequate than Simon Jones, who still makes my wife swoon whenever he’s on TV (the handsome git).
I feel particularly chuffed for Geraint. He was something on an unsung hero in the 2005 Ashes, and he’s remembered more for Richie Benaud’s brilliant commentary at the end of the Edgbaston Test – “Jones! … Bowden!” – than his considerable skill as a wicket-keeper batsman.
Because Jones’ stint as England keeper was sandwiched between Alec Stewart and Matt Prior, two modern day greats of English cricket, people forget what a central part he played in Duncan Fletcher’s revolution. Not only did he play well in the Ashes, he was also part of the squad that won our first test series in the Caribbean for donkey’s years.
What’s more, Geraint’s batting initially gave the side extra impetus: he was elegant, attacking, and was a good foil for Flintoff’s brutal, muscular approach, and Pietersen’s unorthodox showmanship. Jones was therefore an integral part of what was a great batting side to watch.
Although Geraint’s batting fell away in 2006, and he was eventually replaced by Chris Read and then Prior, he never let England down behind the stumps. He perhaps wasn’t the most natural keeper in the world initially, but he was athletic enough and pulled off some sensational catches. Who can forget the one below, which is still one of the best I’ve ever seen.
It’s always satisfying when you see a likable player making the most of his talent, fulfilling ambitions and prolonging his career. Jones last played for England back in 2006, but he recently represented Papua New Guinea, the country of his birth.
His experience of cricket around the world is therefore as rich and varied as anybody’s. If he ever releases an autobiography, it will be well worth reading. I wonder if he needs a ghost-writer? If you’re reading this Geraint …
James Morgan
Is that you in the picture? :)
The most amazing catch. I was seeing an Aussie Physio at the time. Had the cricket on in his room. :) Referred to Jones as ‘that odious little wicket keeper!’ :) :)
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Jones was the real hero of 2005, wasn’t he.
Without THAT catch, there would have been no MPV the master captain, Freddie would just be another injury prone all rounder, and KP an annoying South African.
Without Jones catch, what anyone else did I that series would have been irrelevant. No Freddie or KP heroics, no Gary Pratt moment. 2-0 down, McGrath and Warne on the prowl and the series gone.
Geraint Jones. Maker of millionaires and OBEs.
And unfair victim of the pro-Chris Read press.
Erm…..the two Joneses were inspirational and a high point for us passionate Celts yet not a Welshman since contributing to the England and Wales Team, which is a terrible shame considering that Cardiff has hosted a few top notch Test Matches since 2005. It might help if the England Set up was ‘re branded as “The British lions” to reflect the fact that all Britons and indeed Irish can and should be represented. As for the demise of Glamorgan – Well, they sank so much cash into redeveloping Sophia Gardens as the SWALEC stadium that they forgot about grass roots cricket across South Wales and player development. I remember that there was always one Taffy in the mix in the starting XI fir EWCB. What happened to the Welsh or for that matter Afro-Caribbean Talent?
Would Wales really, really, want to be associated with the ECB? Under it’s present “stewardship” I think Wales should be quietly content that the W is silent at the present moment!
Agree about Geraint Jones, smashing cricketer, and Simon Jones is on my top three favourite cricketers list!
Simon Jones, Chris Tremlett, and Graham Onions (and Nick Compton) top of the “what might have been” list of recent England cricketers.
Pretty sure had Jones, Tremlett and Onions been fit, Stuart Broad would have played a lot fewer Tests. Count you blessings, Broady.
i want to see the articale on IPL
I loved Geraint Jones that summer. He was often unfairly maligned, like Ashley Giles, but was an integral part of the lower order which made the difference in that era.
The fact he still has the enthusiasm to play is testament to his great character and I, too, would snap up a biography if it ever came out . . .
As a Glos fan I can’t say I’m particularly enamoured with this signing, he supposed to be coming in as a ‘specialist’ batsman yet he only averages 32 in FC cricket, and will bat way down the order. I would much rather have given the captaincy to Will Tavare, who looks a quality player.
Still, he does seem like a nice chap, although he did drop far too many catches for a wicket keeper.
He’s probably coming in as a specialist captain more than anything else. He might bat down at 6 or 7, but an average of 30+ is reasonable down there. He might even do a little coaching. I’m a worcs fan myself, and I certainly think having someone like Jones around would help a young team to improve. Would have been quite pleased if he’d come to New Road. Re: the catches, I can’t remember him dropping too many. The odd one maybe, but all keepers do.
I always got the impression that Geraint Jones had a good tactical brain on him. I can still picture Ashley Giles running down the track to celebrate with him after a suggestion he’d made had evidently come off.
Obviously I now get nostalgic for the days when England cricketers could think for themselves (at least without getting sacked for it).
James, I seem to remember you being like that in your 20s!
Agree that Geriant was a vital part of the England side and I was sorry to see him get dropped. It is pleasing to see him still playing and agree he should be good around this side in more ways than just runs.
Nice to have an article (and almost comments) away from everything else of late. I’m actually included to read again.
The opening couple of paras reminded me of the 2009 Oval Test. Flintoff is about an inch taller than me, the same weight, the same propensity for injuries and, crucially, the same age as me almost to the day. Apart from the enormous gulf in talent I feel an affinity with him (don’t laugh).
As such, I was somewhat horrified the way the commentators were talking about him during that Test, as if he were 98 and being held together with glue and sticky tape. They were talking as if they were about to have him put down.
He was thirty effing one!!
I had never felt so old.
Nice chap by all accounts but he did drop a few. Here’s an example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT9SmtvzC84
England missed 25 chances altogether in the 2005 Ashes but the bowling attack was so good it didn’t prove fatal in the end.
spot on.
I really liked him and remember that catch! The thing I do remember more than that was someone interviewing KP, after Jones had had a very bad day. It must have been BBC as last time I remember being able to watch all the matches!!! Anyway, the interviewer said words to the effect: Jones must be very unpopular in the dressing room today after all those missed catches. KP was really abrasive and said words to the effect: Not in our dressing room. We are a team and we all support each other no matter what. It silenced the interviewer! Oh how things have changed!!! He was so sweet though. I really liked him. Glad he is still playing.
As for the other Jones, well what can I say! Cor? He was lovely I must admit. I remember that year when they had a spread in the Radio Times with all the players. They were a very decent crowd I must say. As I recall they had Simon Jones, Jimmy Anderson, KP, half clad. There may have been others but those are the ones I remember. Did nothing for my blood pressure!!! Simon Jones was in a league of his own!!! I cried when he had that terrible accident in OZ! Just such a wonderful player and so very talented. I do still think he would have been one of the very best bowlers in the world without that terrible injury. His book comes out soon and I would really like to read it. I tweeted him after he talked about the book and said I remembered him playing especially in 2005 and was a real favourite then and now. Of course not just for his playing alone, LOL. Sorry James, I’m with your wife. Simon Jones certainly got my pulse racing, whereas Geraint Jones always bought our my “mothering” instinct.
Lovely piece James. A real treat.
Think your confusing an interview with Freddie, not KP. Fred was very loyal to Gojo
Thanks Annie
That should have been a reply to Boycott’s Grandmother, but, unlike her, I can’t hit the right reply button with a stick of rhubarb.
Nice article, but, without wanting to sound unduly harsh, I think that you’re looking at G.O. Jones through the eyes of nostalgia because he played in an iconic series. To be brutally honest, he wasn’t good enough at test level with either the gloves or the bat. He was a product of Duncan Fletcher’s search for the English Gilchrist. Luckily, with Harmison, Hoggard, Flintoff, and S. Jones all at their peak (Harmy was just beginning to taper off), enough chances were created for G.O. Jones to be able to get away with dropping a few, at least for a while. If memory serves, Ashley Giles might have been the biggest victim of Jones’s butter fingers, but I’d have to check that to be sure.
Both Read and Foster were and are better glovemen, and I would like to see England choose a reliable enough top order to select the best wicket-keeper. An average of 25-30 ought to be enough if the top six do their job.
Would England have won at Edgbaston in 2005 if DRS had been around? Yes, but it wouldn’t have been a thrilling two-run victory. We’d had won much earlier.
Random Jones memories…
He missed at least one stumping (Warne, I think) in the 2005 Old Trafford test. Martin Johnson described his efforts to grasp the ball and break the wicket as akin to someone “juggling a live electric eel”.
I’ve always argued that we actually won that series at Trent Bridge, the fourth test – where we took the 2-1 lead we succesfully defended at the Oval.
Everyone remembers Giles and Hoggard clawing their way over the line, but in truth that victory was built on our first innings 477, the centrepiece of which was a stand of 177 between Flintoff and Jones. Jones made 85 – an underrated and largely overlooked innings but one which ranked high in the factors which won us the series.
Sadly, his career ended in rather humiliating fashion – this was the final delivery of his test career:
The ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 will be the 11th ICC Cricket World Cup, scheduled to be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand from 14 February to 29 March 2015. 49 matches will be played in 14 venues with Australia staging 26 games at grounds in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney while New Zealand hosts 23 games in seven cities, including Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Napier, Nelson and Wellington. The final match of the tournament will take place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It will be one of the world’s largest international sports tournaments, with 14 competing teams and more than 400 accredited players and officials taking part in it.ICC Cricket World Cup 2015
[…] We pay tribute to Geraint Jones, and later, Syd […]
good post dude
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