Geraint Jones

Geraint Jones Biography

Geraint Owen Jones was born on 14 July 1976 in Kundiawa, Papua New Guinea. He is a former England and Papua New Guinea cricketer. Geraint is a wicket-keeper and a right-handed batsman. He has a short career with England and later joined PNG.

Background

Geraint was born in PNG but later moved to Australia with his parents. In 1996, he played for Queensland Colts Under-21 team and was awarded wicket-keeper’s trophy for most dismissals in Brisbane Grade Cricket competition.

He moved to England and joined his first club Lydney CC in the Forest of Dean but he returned to Australia aged 22. However, Geraint once again moved to England and joined Clevedon CC, and later played for Abergavenny CC, and was appointed their skipper.

Debut

In April 2004, Geraint made his debut in test cricket for England against West Indies. He replaced Chris Read as England wicketkeeper and scored 38 runs from 88 balls in the first and 10 (not out) from 21 balls in the second innings.

Jones’s ODI debut came in June 2004 against West Indies and he was able to score 35 off 45 balls.

Rise to Glory

Jones showed a real promise by scoring a test match century against New Zealand in towards the end of 2004.

Later in 2004-05, England toured South Africa for a series of Test and ODI matches, where Jones made 73 in a drawn test match at Durban. He was also responsible for stumping Andrew Hall from the last delivery of the tied ODI match in Bloemfontein.

In Edgbaston Test of the 2005 Ashes Series, Jones had a notable match winning moment when he caught Michael Kasprowicz’s catch and England went onto win the match by just 2 runs.

Following his run of good form, his contributions with the bat in the Trent Bridge test were significant, as he scored 85 runs and partnered with Andrew Flintoff, helping him score his century.

Low Points

Jones career as an England international did not last forever. With a drop-in form, missed catches and stumpings, competition from other better wicket-keepers such as Read and James Foster, he was overshadowed.

His embarrassing performances in the 2006-07 Ashes was his last outing as an England player.

Club Career

Geraint played most of his career for Kent in county cricket. One of his best performances came in 2010 at Canterbury when he made an exceptional 178 runs against Somerset.

Records

Jones holds a world record for most test innings batted without scoring a duck, with 51 innings and finally failing to score in his 52nd one.

Retirement

On July 8 2015 Jones announced his retirement from first class cricket and as captain of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club. He later went on to become the coach at Brentwood School, Essex in September.