Lives in Cricket No 4 - Ernie Jones

Chapter Four A Slow Dimming: 1900-1903 The greatest fast bowler in the world was worked too hard and he never again captured the brilliance of his 1897/98 and 1899 Test series. He would continue to have great spells and great days but what was surprising was how quickly he fell from his peak. In the domestic season of 1899/1900 he carried a heavy workload but his returns were poor. In the first-class season opener against Victoria at Adelaide Oval, Jones bowled 79 overs for the strange symmetry of 1 for 97 in each innings, figures not at all worthy of his reputation. If it was imagined that things could only improve, that notion was quickly dispelled. Amazingly in the second game of the season against New South Wales, also at home, Jones took 1 for 210 off 50 overs, and his opening bowling partner George Giffen captured 8 for 287 off 77.1 overs, as New South Wales ran up a first innings total of 807. It remains the only instance in Sheffield Shield/Pura Cup history of two bowlers conceding 200 runs in the same innings. Given the amount of bowling by Jones and Giffen, one imagines ‘Old Cricketer’ continuing to writhe in some discomfort. 51 An ‘ordinary’ working man, Jones was a good subject for cigarette cards, even in a fixed, left-armed(!) bowling pose.