Lives in Cricket No 4 - Ernie Jones

While Jones finished fifth in the national aggregates, and second for South Australia behind Giffen, his 20 wickets from 316 overs came at the high cost of 45.65 runs apiece. And an even worse statistic was his strike rate of 95 balls per wicket. Figures like this inspired sympathy and led to the appearance of the following poem by ‘W.A.B’, presumably W.A.Bettesworth, in Cricket magazine in February 1900: THE BOWLER’S TEAR Upon the pitch he turned, To take a last fond look Of the hole he made within the crease, And the length of run he took! He listened for applause, So familiar to his ear: And the bowler looked upon the ball And wip’d away a tear. Inside that scoring box They added fours and threes: And held aloft their hands in awe For twos were thick as bees. They breathed a word or two, ‘Twas well he could not hear, But he paused to bless them as they worked, And wip’d away a tear. He turned and left the ground, Oh! do not deem him weak, For dauntless was the bowler’s heart, Tho’ he’d slightly lost his cheek. Go watch the average lists In ‘Wisden’ year by year. Be sure the hand that’s foremost there Has wip’d away a tear. Only in the last Sheffield Shield match of the year in Sydney, where he came into his own with nine wickets, was his colony able to break a streak of five losing matches. Jones’ main salve was his form for North Adelaide for which he took 24 wickets at 11.91 to lead the SACA bowling averages for the fourth time, although his copybook was blotted twice late in the season, including once in controversial circumstances. The first time involved Clem Hill who made 210 for East Adelaide at Adelaide Oval in mid-February, and 52 A Slow Dimming: 1900-1903