Jason Michael de la Peña (born 16 September 1972) is an English journalist and former professional

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played 11 first-class and three

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

matches in the 1990s.Jason de la Penã

CricInfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...

. Retrieved 2019-08-15. Despite his small number of appearances, he managed to appear for no fewer than four different counties. He was born in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

, London.

Cricket career

De la Peña played for Gloucestershire Second XI during the second half of the 1990 season, and made his first-team debut the following season in a

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

match against

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. He took 1/69 from 24 overs in Essex's only innings, taking the wicket of Paul Prichard. He played one other game that season, against

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

, but then returned to the seconds, where he remained until the 1993 season. He played twice for the First XI in 1993, taking 4/77 against the

Australians Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizens, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Australians, several (or all) ...

in June, but mostly he remained in the second team, and left Gloucestershire at the end of the season. For 1994 de la Peña joined

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, but another frustrating season followed: he played no first-class cricket at all, and though he did make his one-day debut, opening the bowling against Leicestershire in the

AXA Equity and Law League Axa S.A. (styled as ''AXA'' or GIG in the Middle East) is a French multinational insurance company. The head office is in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. It also provides investment management and other financial services. The Axa ...

. He conceded 34 runs in three overs and was not selected again that summer. In 1995 he performed slightly better. After taking 8/56 in a Second XI match against Leicestershire, de la Peña enjoyed a run in the first team for the only time in his career: in late July and early August he made two appearances in each form of the game. He could not manage to break through to become a regular in the side over a longer time frame and two barren years followed: 1996 was spent entirely in Surrey's second team and during the following season he played no county cricket at any level. In 1997, de la Peña made three

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

appearances for

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

before

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

took him on in 1998. he was again frustrated in his ambitions playing only twice, and his three wickets cost more than 51 runs apiece. For 1999 de la Peña moved yet again, to his fourth county,

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

. He was selected for the first match of the season, a three-day game against

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, and took six wickets in Oxford's first innings, with a return of 6/18 from 14 overs, and four in the second to record the only ten wicket return of his career. However he was to make only one more first-class appearance, a month later, conceding 82 runs from 13 overs against

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

for a single wicket.

Media career

After the end of his cricketing career, de la Peña became a news presenter on

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...

, following previous stints at

France 24 France 24 ( in French) is a French state-owned international news television network based in Paris. Its channels broadcast in French, English, Arabic, and Spanish and are aimed at the overseas market. Based in the Paris suburb of Issy-les-M ...

and RT. In December 2009 he made his debut as a cricket presenter on Sky Sports's international cricket coverage and was presenting when

Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-scor ...

hit a record breaking 200 not out in a one-day international between

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. He appeared in

episode 5 Episode Five, Episode 5 or Episode V may refer to: *''The Empire Strikes Back ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back'') is a 1980 American epic space opera film directed by Irvin Ker ...

of Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 2 as a special guest and now works as a journalist and presenter for

Fox Sports Asia Fox Sports (formerly ESPN Star Sports) was a pan-Asian pay television network broadcasting in Asia, operated by Fox Networks Group Asia Pacific, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company (Southeast Asia) Pte. Ltd. It also oversaw a version of Sta ...

Coaching career

A cricket academy catering to many

international school An international school is an institution that promotes education in an international environment or framework. Although there is no uniform definition or criteria, international schools are usually characterized by a multinational student body a ...

s in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

was founded by Jason under the name '3cricketcoaching'. Apart from having a variety of coaches from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, the academy plays an important role in the popularisation of cricket in South East Asia and offers cricket coaching and competitions for all age groups.

References

External links

*
Jason de la Peña's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:De La Pena, Jason 1972 births Living people People educated at Stowe School Cricketers from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham People from Hammersmith English people of Portuguese descent English cricketers Gloucestershire cricketers Kent cricketers Surrey cricketers Worcestershire cricketers Sky News newsreaders and journalists Sky Sports presenters and reporters Hertfordshire cricketers RT (TV network) people