| Alan Jones gets his cap 19:04 - Jun 17 with 2328 views | Banosswan |
One of cricket’s great injustices was rectified today when, at the grand old age of 81, Alan Jones was at last capped by England.
It is fifty years to the day since Jones, the Glamorgan left-hander, walked out at Lord’s to open the batting for England against the Rest of the World.
Jones and his partner, Kent’s Brian Luckhurst, believed they were winning their first caps. As did Ken Shuttleworth, the Lancashire fast bowler. They were all handed caps, sweaters and blazers, just like any other Test debutants.
The five-match series, hastily arranged in place of a tour by South Africa cancelled by public protests over apartheid, was against formidable opposition that included the likes of Garfield Sobers, Mike Procter and Graeme Pollock, and had been billed as a Test series. Indeed Sobers said he only played on condition it was given that status.
But then in 1972 the ICC announced that the matches were not Tests, arguing they had never originally granted such status (Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack actually continued to recognise them as Test matches until 1980 before deleting them from their records, “much against my will,” said the editor Norman Preston).
That was not such a problem for Luckhurst and Shuttleworth, who both played in the Ashes that winter and earned 21 and five Test caps respectively (Tony Greig, Peter Lever and Chris Old all made their debuts later in this series and went on to play in official Tests), but for Jones, who made just five and nought at Lord’s and was instantly dropped –never to be summoned by England again – it was a shattering blow. His cap was lost. Nobody even told him. He read about it in a newspaper.
As John Arlott, the great broadcaster and journalist, once wrote: “It is a savage irony that his [Jones’s] only selection for England was in the massive con trick – as cynical as any ever pulled in cricket.’’
Contrary to some speculation, however, Jones was never asked to return his kit. In fact his son, Andrew, who played one game for Glamorgan in the victorious Sunday League campaign of 1993, had it all framed for him some years ago.
But Jones has not been properly able to call himself an England Test cricketer, not even three years ago when kindly invited by Andrew Strauss, then the England director of cricket, to a special dinner at Lord’s for all living England cricketers, men and women.
Jones, like the other 229 people present, was presented with a commemorative cap, but, unlike the others, his did not have a number on it.
It is no surprise that Jones and his former county colleague, the late Don Shepherd, who, quite remarkably, took 2,218 first-class wickets at 21 each, have long been the instant and obvious answers to the question asking for the unluckiest players never to be capped by England.
Today, though, that all changed for Jones, as the ECB decided to award him a playing cap with a number on it – 696 – with Kent’s Zak Crawley having been given number 695 when making his Test debut last November in New Zealand.
Jones accumulated 36,000 first-class runs, including 56 centuries, and he passed 1,000 runs in 23 consecutive county seasons between 1961 and 1983
Jones accumulated 36,000 first-class runs, including 56 centuries, and he passed 1,000 runs in 23 consecutive county seasons between 1961 and 1983
PA
He is now Alan Jones of Glamorgan and England, and his photograph can quite rightly sit alongside Glamorgan’s other 16 Test cricketers in the players’ dining room at Sophia Gardens. I was always embarrassed that my mug shot was up there and his was not. He is Glamorgan’s greatest ever batsman by some considerable distance after all.
There is the small continuing glitch in that the ICC will still not recognise those 1970 matches as Tests in their record books – despite being implored to reconsider by Lawrence Booth in his editor’s notes in this year’s Wisden (the Australia versus the ICC World XI match in 2005 is considered a Test) – but it is to the ECB’s credit that they have now made this wonderful gesture on the occasion of the fifty-year anniversary.
Jones knew nothing of it until this morning, with some frantic and emotional preparations having been undertaken by his wife Megan and son Andrew, along with Glamorgan chief executive Hugh Morris, before a virtual presentation was made by Tony Lewis, the former Glamorgan and England captain, with England Test captain Joe Root and outgoing ECB chairman Colin Graves also in virtual attendance.
It was the most lovely of surprises for Jones, the most gentle, modest and personable of men, a Welsh speaker born in Velindre near Swansea, the eighth of nine brothers. It is telling that he has never expressed an ounce of bitterness at the unfairness of his lost cap. It is just not in his character.
But there is no doubt the cap is richly deserved. Jones was nervous in that match in 1970, unsurprising given the quality of the opposition and, with players like Geoffrey Boycott, Colin Cowdrey and John Edrich unavailable, the need to impress quickly.
Jones was very nearly out first ball, edging it over the slips, and was out caught behind to Procter in both innings, later describing his first-innings stroke with typical honesty as “rash, appalling.”
There were clearly some excellent candidates for opening berths but it remains a mystery as to why Jones was not granted more opportunity. He was universally respected and rated in the game (he also featured successfully for Natal, Northern Transvaal and Western Australia), having made more than 36,000 first-class runs, including 56 centuries, as well as passing 1,000 runs in 23 consecutive county seasons between 1961 and 1983.
Sound of technique, with a delightful cover drive, fearless against the quick men with a productive hook shot in the locker, Jones was also particularly aggressive against the spinners, often dancing down the track immediately upon their introduction.
His first-class average of 32.89 might look quite low, but remember that he batted on uncovered pitches without a helmet until late in his career (he finished in 1983) and he was often carrying a poor Glamorgan side.
Jones simply loved batting. At the start of every innings he would set out his stall to bat all day long. It was a mindset inculcated in this young Glamorgan professional, who, as a student at Swansea University, was fortunate enough to spend many winter Friday afternoons at the Neath indoor nets, with Jones feeding the bowling machine and talking me through the requirements of opening the batting as a profession. It was the ultimate grounding. A hero had suddenly become my coach, mentor and friend.
“Aim to still be there at six o’clock, Jamer, you will have a hundred by then,” he would say.
But that required facing a lot of balls to reach that point, so that was what we would do, hour after hour. Every ball had to be treated with the utmost respect, nicely encapsulated in Jones’ lovely habit of referring to the ball in the feminine.
“If she is out there [pointing to a spot well outside off stump], leave her alone,” he would say.
Jones still coaches a little even now and some of his favourite batting coaching mantras (“head/leading shoulder” and “pick up, position, stroke”) can often be heard these days in coaching halls around Wales. I certainly use them.
His influence on cricket in Wales has been profound. The cap is long overdue recognition beyond just there of his outstanding achievements and service. |  |
| Ever since my son was... never conceived, because I've never had consensual sex without money involved... I've always kind of looked at you as... a thing, that I could live next to... in accordance with state laws. | | Poll: | How do you like your steak? |
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| Alan Jones gets his cap on 19:07 - Jun 17 with 2312 views | exiledclaseboy |
Superb story. Nice one, Banos. |  |
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| Alan Jones gets his cap on 19:08 - Jun 17 with 2312 views | Banosswan |
Also worth noting this is Steve James' first article back in the Times following the awful passing of his daughter | |
| Ever since my son was... never conceived, because I've never had consensual sex without money involved... I've always kind of looked at you as... a thing, that I could live next to... in accordance with state laws. | | Poll: | How do you like your steak? |
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| Alan Jones gets his cap on 20:14 - Jun 17 with 2260 views | theloneranger |
Alan Jones' first-class run tally of 36,049 is the highest of any player not to feature in an ICC-sanctioned Test, and then you have the great Don Shepherd ...
No bowler has taken more first-class wickets (2,218) than Don Shepherd without winning a Test cap!! |  |
| Everyday above ground ... Is a good day! 😎 |
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| Alan Jones gets his cap on 20:25 - Jun 17 with 2238 views | WarwickHunt |
Thanks, Banos - that’s made my day!
Alan was my idol growing up. Got the Stewart Surridge Alan Jones bat autographed by the man himself.
Justice done at last. Alan Jones, England batsman. |  | | |
| Alan Jones gets his cap on 20:28 - Jun 17 with 2227 views | WarwickHunt |
| Alan Jones gets his cap on 19:08 - Jun 17 by Banosswan |
Also worth noting this is Steve James' first article back in the Times following the awful passing of his daughter |
I’ve mentioned this before but his biography is a terrific read. | | | |
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