Profile of Alan Jones by Dr.A.K.Hignell - Hon Statistician and Historian to Glamorgan CCC

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Player:

A Jones

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Alan Jones scored over 40,000 runs to his name in all forms of the game for the Welsh county, and no batsman is likely to surpass his record of 34,056 first-class runs, plus 7,420 in all limited overs games. During his career from 1957 until 1983, he passed a thousand runs on 23 consecutive occasions, and scored a club record of 52 first-class centuries. Even more remarkably, the stylish left-handed batsman never won any Test caps for England.

 

He made his debut in Glamorgan`s middle order, before moving up to open the batting in the early 1960`s. In 1962 Alan recorded his maiden century against Sussex at Hastings, and in the following year hit hundreds in both innings of the match against Somerset at Glastonbury. His long list of fine innings included 161*against the West Indies at Swansea in 1966, 99 against Australia in the famous victory at Swansea in 1968, and a career best 204* against Hampshire at Basingstoke in 1980, at the age of 41. He also shared in a record opening partnership of 330 with Roy Fredericks against Northamptonshire at Swansea in 1972, and in 1978 hit Glamorgan`s first ever Sunday League century, with 110* against Gloucestershire at Cardiff. In addition, he led Glamorgan between 1976 and 1978, and captained them against Middlesex in the Gillette Cup Final in 1977.

 

Alan`s prolific run scoring was based on a solid technique, and an almost unwavering concentration and, given his fine record at county level, it was surprising that he was constantly overlooked by the Enland selectors. In 1970 Alan was chosen to appear in the series with the Rest of the World, which at the time was considered to be worthy of Test status. He was presented with an England cap and blazer, but the bureaucrats at Lord`s later stripped the series of Test status.

 

In 1982 he received the M.B.E. in the Queen`s Honours List in recognition of his loyal efforts for the Welsh county. He played his final Championship match against Hampshire at Southampton at the end of the 1983 season, before taking over as the club`s coach. He remained as Director of Coaching until retiring in 1998 after a lifetime of loyal and wholehearted service to the Welsh county.

 

(Article: Copyright © 2000 Dr.A.K.Hignell)