After 15 years of service to the club, Ashes winner Geraint Jones left Kent Cricket a few weeks ago and he leaves a great legacy behind him.
The 38 year old wicketkeeper is one of just a handful of Kent cricketers that can look back on their time with the club and firmly believe that he has given absolutely everything for the badge.
In a world where money influences player’s decisions and loyalty is becoming ever rarer, in Jones Kent found themselves lucky to have secured a talent that always gave his best for the team, even if it meant he sacrificed his own personal ambitions.
A long line of wicketkeepers at Kent preceded Jones with the likes of Les Ames, Godfrey Evans, Alan Knott and Paul Downton all having represented their club and country with pride.
The story of Jones is a reasonably well known one, born in Papua New Guinea with Welsh parentage, moved to Australia and grew up in Toowoomba in Queensland before moving to Abergavenny in Wales.
Determined to secure a contract with a county side, Jones put pen to paper and wrote to clubs up and down the land before landing a trial at Kent and never looked back after joining the Second XI and went on to make his first-class debut in 2001.
Having forced Paul Nixon out of the side after a weight of runs, Jones went on to attract the attention of the England selectors and rightly won his call up to the squad that travelled to the West Indies in 2004.
Making his debut against the host nation in Antigua in April 2004, replacing Chris Read in the side, Jones never looked back, although he did get a very good look at how Brian Lara batted as he went on to score the world record score of 400 not out in the 1st innings.
Jones made 38 and an unbeaten 10 in that game as England secured a draw in the Fourth Test to go on and win the series 3-0 and with it the great journey had begun.
His maiden Test century came against New Zealand later that same year as Jones gave England what they were looking for in the middle order, stability with some counter attacking flair.
With the likes of Andrew Flintoff in the side, Jones and the England team began to play a new brand of cricket, taking the game to the opposition and with fans able to watch the team on Channel 4, fans were treated to seeing their stars for free.
The biggest series of Jones’ career will undoubtedly be the one against Australia for the Ashes in 2005. The Aussies swaggered into Kent on the opening day of the tour telling the assembled press (and I was one of them), that they would do some Pommie bashing yet again and win the series 5-0.
What the Aussies hadn’t counted on was how good a team (and I mean team) England had become in the past few years. Jones was very much part of that team and with Michael Vaughan at the helm, they were playing the brand of cricket the paying public wanted to see and took the game to the Aussies in every aspect.
The tied Natwest Series Final at Lord’s before the Tests with Jones joining Paul Collingwood in a partnership of 71 gave fans a hint of what was to come.
What followed will always be remembered by cricket and non cricket fans alike with Jones playing a very crucial part.
Some five Tests later and with a blow up Dalek on his head as England paraded through the streets of London, who could summarise what had happened in those epic games of cricket.
The defining moment of the series will be looked back in decades and centuries to come with Jones taking “that catch” to dismiss Michael Kasprowicz to win the Edgbaston Test by just two runs. That proved to be the catalyst to enable England to win the series 2-1.
Jones was awarded the MBE and went on to play 34 Tests, scored 1,172 Test runs, 815 One Day International runs, took 128 Test catchings and five stumpings, 68 ODI catches and four stumpings.
Along with that Jones has scored a staggering 8,479 First Class runs, 3,288 List A runs, taken 787 catches and 78 stumpings. All stats that the keeper should be rightly proud of, but don’t tell the whole story.
His England career came to an abrupt end over in Australia, where his love for cricket had begun. The 2006/07 series will be one most England fans will want to forget as the team lost 5-0, but with it began the next part of Jones’ life as a dedicated cricketer for Kent.
Year after year, the gritty wicketkeeper turned up for another season with Kent, without any controversy and with the greatest degree of dedication to the team.
In 2007 the side went on the lift the Twenty 20 Cup with Jones picking up some more silverware, although the Friends Provident Trophy Cup Final loss to Essex at Lord’s and the T20 Cup Final loss to Middlesex at The Rose Bowl in 2008 will be days to forget for the Kent side.
As time slowly went by, Kent started to cast one eye on the future and in 2014 the hierarchy went with talented Sam Billings instead of Jones who went on lead the Second XI in his final year at the club, helping guide the next generation and pass on some nuggets of wisdom to Kent’s youngsters.
A brief loan spell at Gloucestershire came to an abrupt end with Jones having to cut his stay at Bristol short due to an eye problem, but that didn’t stop Geraint from featuring for the Kent 2nd XI at the back end of the season and some appearances for the Lashings World XI gave fans a glimpse of what the man with gloves can still do.
Geraint was rightly awarded with a facsimile of the scorecard of his maiden first-class century in 2003 and his 100th consecutive County Championship appearance in 2012 at Kent’s Cricket awards a few weeks ago for his outstanding service to the county.
Kent chairman George Kennedy and CEO Jamie Clifford made the presentation to Jones and at the time he paid tribute to those that had supported him through his career saying:
“I’ve come a long way since I drove here in a second-hand car from Abergavenny for my trial. I’d like to thank all my teammates and the supporters and wish the club the best of luck for the future.”
On the night Kent Cricket CEO Jamie Clifford was to lead the tributes to Jones: “I would like to thank Geraint for his magnificent service of the Club. He has been a hugely popular player for the county, and one who set the highest standards.”
“He has continued the extraordinary run of international ‘keepers that have come from Kent and can certainly look back on his time with Kent with a huge amount of pride.”
Clifford was just a number of people from Kent that lined up to pay tribute to Jones as he leaves the club, with these just a handful of those wishing to thank the wicketkeeper for his time at Canterbury.
Rob Key: “Jonesy epitomises everything that is good about Kent over the past ten years or so. He’s rightly been given the plaudits for his time at the club and he leaves behind a great legacy.”
“He’s been someone I could depend on over the years, both on and off the field and I wish him well for whatever he decides to do in the future.”
Sam Billings: “What a guy, what a player! He’s been a massive influence and helped me develop massively.”
“To have a guy like that to learn your trade off over a number of years has been brilliant. Obviously we all wish him the very best and I offer all of my thanks to him”
Daniel Bell-Drummond: “Geraint has been a great role model for us younger guys over the years and will be sorely missed around the club.”
“As someone that won the Ashes, everyone looked up to him and it’ll be strange not having him around next season.”
Mitchell Claydon: “Joner leaves a legacy behind him and has played for his country, won the Ashes, played in World Cups, he’s done it all.”
“Four our young guys, even though he leaves, they will all look up to what he has done and aspire to be at the position he was at.”
“I think we all wish Joner the best, whether he goes on and finds another club or pulls the pin from cricket. To play at the level he has is a great achievement.”
Darren Stevens: “I’m gutted Joner is leaving and when I look back to pre-season, I think he was the in form batter. In a way he might have even been able to play as just a batter, but the club have chosen a certain way and Sam Billings has shown he is up to the mark and done really well.”
“Joner has got a lot more to give, he’s as fit as a fiddle, he’s keeping well, he’s hitting the ball well and I think if someone could snap him up for the next couple of years, they’d get a great signing.”
“We put on quite a few partnerships together, but the big thing that will stand out for me is him having a go at me for trying to bowl an inswinger with him stood up!”
“I’m a good friend of Joner and hopefully there will be plenty of rounds of golf to be played over the years!”
Those are just some of the kind words said about Jones from his team-mates, but this article could go on for ever and a day with people lining up to pay tribute to such a great servant of the club.
The 38 year old is expected to stay in the game with an announcement on his future due soon, whilst the wicketkeeper retains a firm interest in seeing kids getting into cricket for the first time in his role as Director of Cricket at Catch Cricket, getting 2-11 years olds into the game whilst having fun.
He is also expected to carry on playing, whilst coaching with Papua New Guinea as he looks to give something back to the country of his birth.
Looking back on a distinguished career at Kent, one thing is for sure, if you ask any fan what they think of Geraint Jones, they will only ever have nice things to say and that’s because he always takes time to talk to them.
A lot can be said about that ability to talk and listen and if that’s the lasting legacy of his time at Kent, then it’s a good one.