Alan Jones MBE (born 4 November 1938) is a Welsh

cricketer Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

, who played for

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

for almost a quarter of a century. He also played, for a single season each, with

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

and

Northern Transvaal Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

. He holds the record for scoring the most runs in

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

without playing in an official Test match.

Career

Jones was a consistent, compact left-handed opening batsman who scored 1,000 first-class runs in every English cricket season from 1961 to 1983, when he retired. In five out of six seasons from 1963 to 1968 he scored more than 1,800 runs, and he averaged in the mid 30s for most seasons. His consistency and reliability were the foundation for the Championship-winning Glamorgan side of 1969, but were just as important in the much less successful sides of the 1970s. A product of local cricket near

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

, Jones played first for Glamorgan in 1957. After two years of

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

, he was a regular in the county side in 1960 and made 1,000 runs for the first time in 1961, winning his cap in 1962. Thereafter he was a fixture in the side until he retired at the end of the 1983 season, and his record of scoring 1,000 runs in 23 seasons has been beaten by only 10 other cricketers. His total career aggregate of 36,049 runs put him 35th on the all-time list of run-getters and is the highest of any player who did not play

Test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

. (Perhaps not coincidentally, his Glamorgan colleague Don Shepherd holds the record for taking the most first class wickets without playing a test match). His 56 centuries in first-class cricket is exceeded only by John Langridge among non-Test players. In addition to these first-class runs, he also scored more than 7,000 runs in

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, 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 competit ...

matches. He is the Glamorgan record holder for career runs and, jointly with Hugh Morris, for centuries. Jones is unique in having won a Test cap and then having had it taken away. He was picked, along with fellow opening batsman

Brian Luckhurst Brian William Luckhurst (5 February 1939 – 1 March 2005) was an English cricketer, who played his entire county career for Kent County Cricket Club. He played for Kent from 1958 to 1976, usually opening the batting, then in 1985, in an emerge ...

, to début in the first match between

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and the Rest of the World XI in 1970 after the cancellation of the

South African cricket team The South Africa men's national cricket team, also known as the Proteas, represents South Africa in men's international cricket and is administered by Cricket South Africa. South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council. T ...

's tour. He scored just five and nought, dismissed by

Mike Procter Michael John Procter (15 September 1946 – 17 February 2024) was a South African cricketer, whose involvement in international cricket was limited by South Africa's banishment from world cricket in the 1970s and 1980s. A fast bowler and hard- ...

in both innings, and was not picked again. The match, originally given Test status, was later ruled not to count as a Test match. All the other players who played in this series appeared in Test cricket in other series. Jones captained Glamorgan in 1977 and 1978. He was named as a

Wisden Cricketer of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based "primarily for their influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

in 1978, after taking the county to its first List A final in the Gillette Cup the previous season. Jones' brother,

Eifion Jones __NOTOC__ William Eifion Jones (1925 – March 2004) was a Welsh marine botanist, noted for his study of marine algae. He was born and brought up in Aberystwyth and studied botany at the University of Wales under Professor Lilly Newton. He ...

, was Glamorgan's

wicketkeeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a catch, stump the batsman out, or run out a batsman when occasion arises. The wicket-ke ...

for much of the period that Jones was the opening batsman, and his son

Andrew Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...

played once in a List A match for Glamorgan. He gained a reputation as a world-class coach, and coaches the Wales under 11s cricket team with the help of Peter Davies. In June 2020, Jones was recognised as an England Test cricketer by the

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board, aka ECB, is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test ...

(ECB), with the ECB awarding him cap number 696, fifty years after the match.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Alan 1938 births Living people Welsh cricketers Glamorgan cricket captains Welsh cricket captains Glamorgan cricketers Western Australia cricketers KwaZulu-Natal cricketers Northerns cricketers Combined Services cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year Cricketers from Swansea Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club President's XI cricketers England Test cricketers Members_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire