Jeff Jones won 15 Test caps for England, and had it not been for a serious elbow injury sustained early in the 1968 season, the left-arm fast bowler would have won many more.
Jeff had progressed from club and junior cricket onto the Glamorgan staff, with the left-arm quick bowler making his first-class debut in 1960 against Kent at Blackheath. By 1962 Jeff was the county`s new ball bowler and confirmed his rich potential with a hat-trick against Yorkshire at Harrogate. His talents were also recognised by the England selectors, and he toured East Africa and India with the MCC in 1963/64, making his Test debut at Bombay in 1963/64, remarkably whilst still uncapped by Glamorgan.
1965 saw Jeff produce one of the most lethal spells of bowling by any Glamorgan player, taking career best figures of 13-9-11-8 on a damp green wicket at Grace Road. At the end of the season, Jeff won both his county cap, and selection on the 1965/66 MCC tour to Australia and New Zealand where he prospered on the hard and pacy pitches. Following a match return of 7/98 against Western Australia at Perth, Jeff came into the England side for the Second Test, and held his place for the rest of the series and during the Fourth Test at Adelaide, Jeff took 6/118.
Jeff played in the first two Tests of the home series against the West Indies in 1966, whilst in 1967 he claimed 100 wickets for Glamorgan in first-class cricket. That winter he featured in the MCC tour to the West Indies and claimed five wickets in the infamous Second Test at Kingston, but his finest hour was undoubtedly in the final Test at Georgetown, Guyana. Jeff had very modest pretentions as a batsman, yet the number eleven successfully blocked out the final over from Lance Gibbs to secure the series for England.
Many believed that Jeff would play a key role during the 1968 Ashes series, but early in the season he damaged shoulder and elbow ligaments at Ilford early in the season and missed the rest of the season. After a consultant found arthritis in his elbow joint and severe wearing of the bone, Jeff tried to modify his action but was forced into premature retirement. His son Simon duly followed in his footsteps by playing for Glamorgan and England.
JONES, Ivor Jeffrey
Born – Dafen, 10th December 1941.
Best performances for Glamorgan:
In first-class cricket – 20 v Sussex at Cardiff Arms Park, 1965; 8/11 v Leicestershire at Grace Road, 1965.
In List A cricket – 7 v Northamptonshire at Northampton, 1968; 4/12 v Northamptonshire at Northampton, 1966.
| M | I | NO | RUNS | AV | 100 | 50 | CT | ST | |
| First-class | 157 | 180 | 69 | 395 | 3.55 | – | – | 36 | – |
| List A | 9 | 6 | 3 | 20 | 6.67 | – | – | 2 | – |
| Balls | M | R | W | AV | 5wI | 10wM | |
| First-class | 23464 | 983 | 9583 | 408 | 23.48 | 16 | – |
| List A | 675 | 24 | 319 | 22 | 14.50 | – | – |