Jeff Jones (born Ivor Jeffrey Jones, 10 December 1941) is a Welsh former

cricket 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 ...

er, who took forty-four wickets in fifteen

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Indoor cricket, Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (associa ...

for the

England cricket team The England men's cricket team represents cricket in England, England and cricket in Wales, Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Maryleb ...

between 1964 and 1968. His son, Simon Jones, also played Test cricket for England.

First-class career

Jones was born in

Dafen, Carmarthenshire Dafen is a village situated east of Llanelli in Carmarthenshire, Wales, part of the Llanelli Rural community. Dafen borders the villages of Felinfoel (Bryngwyn-Mawr), Bryn, Penceilogi, and Pemberton. Dafen is also an electoral ward, electi ...

. Cricket writer, Colin Bateman remarked, "South Wales is hardly renowned for fast bowlers but in 1960 a powerfully built left-armer joined the

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 ...

staff and caused undiluted excitement. Unassuming and popular, Jeff Jones introduced a destructive force into Glamorgan's cricket it had never seen before." He was a left-arm

fast bowler Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is a type of bowling in cricket, in which the ball is delivered at high speed. The fastest bowlers bowl the ball at over . Practitioners of fast bowling are known as fast bowlers or quicks. Also ...

who in 1965 took five wickets before conceding a run against

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

Grace Road Grace Road, known for sponsorship reasons as the Uptonsteel County Ground, Grace Road, is a cricket ground in Leicester, England. It is the home ground and administrative base of Leicestershire County Cricket Club. History Leicestershire ...

, finishing with 8 for 11. The consensus was that there was no faster bowler in

county cricket Inter-county cricket matches have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Two county championship competitions have existed since the late 19th century at ...

at that time. His wickets did not always come cheaply, as Jones was prone to be erratic at times, but at his best he was a handful for any batsman.

International cricket

In the 1965-66 Ashes series in Australia, Jones was England's top wicket taker, with 15 (at 35.53), taking 6 for 118 in the Fourth Test. He made his highest Test score of 16 in the Third Test, adding 55 for the last wicket with David Allen. His most famous batting moment came in Georgetown,

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

in 1967-68 when, batting at his usual position at number eleven, he played out the last over of the match bowled by

Lance Gibbs Lancelot Richard Gibbs (born 29 September 1934) is a former West Indies cricketer, one of the most successful spin bowlers in Test cricket history. He took 309 Test wickets, only the second player (after Fred Trueman) to pass 300, the first spi ...

, to ensure that England escaped from the match with a draw, to secure a 1–0 series win over the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

. This was to be his last Test, and his first-class career also finished in 1968, after an elbow injury ended his time prematurely at the age of 26. Jones left cricket to find an occupation in

brewing Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and #Fermenting, fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with Yeast#Beer, yeast. It may be done in a brewery ...

. His son, Simon Jones, a right-arm fast bowler for Glamorgan, also played Test cricket for England. Simon suffered a serious injury that ended his England career at the same age as his father.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Jeff 1941 births Living people England Test cricketers Glamorgan cricketers Welsh cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers International Cavaliers cricketers A. E. R. Gilligan's XI cricketers T. N. Pearce's XI cricketers