Cricket Interview with Geraint JonesJames Fitzgerald talks to the England wicketkeeper who played a key role in the recent Ashes victory
It is a moment that will live with English cricket fans for many years to come. One down in the Ashes series, England knew they had to win the second Test in Edgbaston if they had any chance of loosening the Aussies' vice-like grip on the famous urn. Needing more than 100 runs to win with just three wickets remaining on the final day, it was all over for Australia, but Shane Warne, Brett Lee and Michael Kasprowicz had other ideas.
In the end it came down to two runs, by which time most of the England team had given up hope. One inside edge or leg glance would be enough to put Ricky Ponting's team two-nil up with just three matches to play. Steve Harmison bowled a short ball to Kasprowicz, it flicked something on the way through, Geraint Jones scooped it, inches above the turf - big appeal, umpire Billy Bowden's crooked finger went up and the cricketing world went into a frenzy.
In that single, thrilling moment, the balance of power in world cricket shifted ever so slightly. And more importantly, it gave a momentum to England's Ashes campaign that the Aussies were never able to reverse. Even now, with the dust still settling on the greatest Ashes series in a generation - perhaps the greatest ever - it is that single instant in a Test series that lasted nearly two months which will be remembered above all else.
"When it got down to 10 runs to win, I thought the game was lost," said Jones, the much criticised wicketkeeper who snaffled that winning catch.
"The Aussies in the crowd started off singing '107 to go' and then they got down to 40 and 20 and under 10. And then you know just one shot could effectively win the series for them. To be two down it would have been series over for us," he said.
"It was definitely a pivotal moment. We won that in a tough situation. We should have won it earlier but to hold our nerve under that pressure gave us huge confidence."
Now the world beckons for this England team as they prepare in the short term for a tour of Pakistan and India and then contemplate retaining the Ashes "Down Under" 18 months from now, followed by the World Cup in 2007.
Jones was in Ireland yesterday as guest of his sponsor SoftCo, an Irish software export company that has got into cricket at just the right time, it would seem.
The 29-year-old was born in Papua New Guinea to Welsh parents but grew up mostly in Brisbane, where he learned his cricket. While his soft-speaking voice is something of a mixture between Queensland drawl and the more finely snipped tones of his adopted Kent, he is quick to declare his unwavering commitment to the English cause, despite his Aussie-Welsh roots.
"It has been a real strange path for me to get to where I am. I always knew I wasn't Australian, living there. It was a bit like just a holding port. I have always leaned towards being Welsh and since setting up home in Kent I have really discovered who I am," he said before heading out to do a wicketkeeping coaching clinic with some of Leinster's up-and-coming glove men at Malahide CC yesterday.
Despite being part of this great England side, Jones himself has come in for some fierce criticism particularly for his glove work during the Test series.
"It's been a very tough summer from that respect, especially after (the first Test at) Lord's, dropping a couple of catches there and getting a lot of stick in the press. Then I came back and took that catch in Edgbaston and suddenly the press are back with me. Then I missed some more chances at the Old Trafford Test and that is probably the lowest I felt as a cricketer."
Jones has tried to put the personal failures behind him, helped by his team-mates, who always backed him publicly. After the Old Trafford Test he went out with Andrew Flintoff, Harmison and his agent, former England player Neil Fairbrother, to a dog track to take his mind off it. By the next match in Trent Bridge, he had a clear head again and shared perhaps the most important partnership of the series with Flintoff as they put on 177 for the seventh wicket to take the game away from Australia.
While Jones's wicketkeeping may not be the best in the world, England coach Duncan Fletcher values a keeper who can bat and there is probably no one else out there available for England who could challenge him in that department. That said, a certain Irishman may be planning to change all that. Jones's understudy at Kent is Dubliner Niall O'Brien. The ebullient 23-year-old has struggled a little with the bat of late but Jones still knows to say all the right things in O'Brien's home town.
"He has matured as a person and a player in the last year or so. He probably hasn't scored as many runs as he would like but he has been keeping very well. He is off to Australia to work on it and he won't rest on what he has done."
With middle-order batsman Ian Bell not impressing many people this summer, the way might soon be clear for another Irishman, Ed Joyce, to make an entrance at Test level.
"Ed's such a stylish, fluent batsman. The big thing that impresses everyone is his character. He is so relaxed and he manages to bring that calmness out in the way he bats . . . The selectors definitely have their eye on him. There has been a little bit of talk about Ian Bell. He has got to put the performances in and if by chance he doesn't, you know, there's a spot there and Ed is a possible candidate for that."
What price a Joyce-Jones partnership in the England middle order before too long? SoftCo may soon need to put another cricketer on their books.
