Lives in Cricket No 4 - Ernie Jones

head, keeping a good length and changing his pace intelligently. In addition, he was one of the safest fields at mid-off, covering a lot of ground and returning the ball with power and accuracy. ‘Mid-On’ was certainly forced to eat his words a month later when Jones’ deadly second innings 6 for 15, on a sticky MCG wicket, saw him fire out the Trotts, Graham, Laver, Trumble and Bob McLeod, when his captain Giffen described the batsmen as ‘helpless as new-born babes’. Jones’ match figures of 9 for 52 (bowling unchanged) enabled South Australia to gain its only Sheffield Shield win by ten wickets, and he finished the season strongly by claiming 5 for 30 in the first innings of an Australian Eleven’s narrow two-wicket win over The Rest in early March to place himself at the top of the national bowling averages, with 31 wickets at 17.67. There remained merely a range of social events before the team’s departure on Wednesday, 18 March. On the Monday night members of the South Adelaide Cricket Club and their friends met at the Freemasons Hotel in Adelaide, where Ernie’s brother William was the licensee, for a special occasion to honour Jones. Club patron and South Australian premier Charles Kingston congratulated Jones on being the first representative of the club to make an Australian touring side. At the same function the South Adelaide Football Club presented Jones with a Huon Pine chest of drawers. The Tuesday afternoon saw a civic reception in the Adelaide Town Hall Banqueting Room hosted by the mayor Charles Tucker, with speeches by South Australian Cricket Association chairman Mostyn Evan, Giffen and Iredale. However, there were so many additional responses from among the players – Jones, Eady, Clem Hill (a late inclusion in the tour party), Darling, Donnan, Gregory, Graham and McKibbin – that it was easier to count those who failed to respond. A hearty send-off was finally given to team members before they departed from Largs Bay on the steamer Cuzco the following morning. Jones and Hill left for the ship by train with a large crowd gathering at the Adelaide Railway Station platform to wish them well. Then manager, Henry Musgrove, Harry Trott, and wicket-keepers Jim Kelly and Alf Johns, who had arrived on the Melbourne express, journeyed to Largs Bay by mail train. Shortly before sailing, SACA officials – Evan, John Hill (father of Clem), and secretary John Creswell – gathered in the ship’s saloon for further handshakes, photographs and cheers. Jones and his South The Great Fast Bowler: 1896-1899 20