Sammy Jones
FullnameSamuel Percy Jones
Birth date1 August 1861
Birth placeSydney, Australia
Death date14 July 1951 (aged 89)
Death placeAuckland, New Zealand
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm fast-medium
RoleAll-rounder
Columns2
Column 1Test
Matches 112
Runs 1428
Bat avg 121.39
100s/50s 10/1
Top score 187
Deliveries 1262
Wickets 16
Bowl avg 118.66
Fivefor 10
Tenfor 10
Best bowling 14/47
Catches/stumpings 112/0
Column 2First-class
Matches 2152
Runs 25,189
Bat avg 221.09
100s/50s 25/24
Top score 2151
Deliveries 23,860
Wickets 255
Bowl avg 233.52
Fivefor 21
Tenfor 20
Best bowling 25/54
Catches/stumpings 281/0
Internationaltrue
CountryAustralia
TestdebutagainstEngland
Testdebutdate17 February
Testdebutyear1882
Testcap30
Lasttestdate10 February
LasttestagainstEngland
Lasttestyear1888
Sourcehttp://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/6050.html cricinfo
Date27 March
Year2017

Samuel Percy Jones (1 August 1861 – 14 July 1951) was an Australian cricketer who played 12 Test matches between 1882 and 1888.[1]

A solid right-handed batsman and a handy medium pace bowler, Jones excelled for New South Wales and later for Queensland and Auckland. He toured England with the Australians in 1882, 1886, 1888 and 1890, and New Zealand with Australians in 1886–87 and the Queensland team in 1896–97. On the 1886 tour he scored 1497 first-class runs at 24.95, and two centuries, including his career-best of 151 against the Gentlemen at The Oval. Testament to his batting skill, his first-class career lasted over 30 years.

Despite some solid Test knocks for Australia, he is remembered more for a couple of legends of the early days of Test cricket than for anything he did on the field. He was involved, for example, in an incident with W. G. Grace in the 1882 Test Match, when he was run-out after having, under the assumption that the ball was dead, left his crease to pat down the pitch. Jones's highest Test score was 87, achieved during the time that helped make this score a legend in Australian cricket superstition connected with bad luck.[2]

He moved to New Zealand in 1904[3] and first coached the Grafton District Cricket Club, and then worked for the Auckland Cricket Association.[4] He played his last first-class match for Auckland in December 1908 at the age of 47.

Jones worked as a clerk and cricket coach at Auckland Grammar School from 1904 until he retired in 1935.[5]

References

  1. ^ Sammy Jones, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2024-08-19. (subscription required)
  2. ^ Ashes 2010: The Special Significance of the Number 87 – World Cricket Watch
  3. ^ Wisden 1952, p. 958.
  4. ^ "Cricket". The New Zealand Herald. 8 September 1906. p. 8.
  5. ^ "New Zealand Boys. Aptitude for Sport". Auckland Star. 23 August 1935.