The Dean Jones example that Australian selectors must avoid in regenerating ageing Test squad

Just to get you started, have a look at his performances in deciding tests of series during his prime 1993 Ashes to 1999 FWT. This encompassed 18 series with 17 deciding tests, some of them actual deciders. For those that swear by raw averages, his average at these times of ‘all on the line’ was 66.0. In the 27 innings, he reached 50 17 times, which is once every 1.6 innings. He went on to 100 on 6 of those 17 occasions, which is 35.3% of the time, but if only looking at the more crucial top opposition teams, i.e., South Africa, West Indies, Pakistan and Ashes cricket, he reached 50 every 1.7 innings but converted 42.9% of the time. This included, obviously, his tons in Kingston 1995 and Port Elizabeth 1997, and not to be forgotten Karachi 1998. Your challenge was rather odd, but there is also a really good book on the topic in Ken Piesse’s Melbourne bookshop – I forget the exact title.

I wouldn’t read too much into India’s win in England 1986 as England were in complete disarray with a totally shite captain and they had just been shell-shocked 0-5 in the Caribbean. Added to that was the furore surrounding Ian Botham at the time i.e., allegations of drug use and infidelity plastered all over the tabloids, and then he comes out and admits publicly he had smoked pot and consequently gets banned for the first half of the summer. All of this made it as impossible for England to focus as it would have been for Australia at the backend of the 2018 series in South Africa once the ball tampering came to light. With Gower hanging onto the captaincy for the first test, this meant an easy chance for India to go 1-0 up and then it took England the rest of their home summer to rebuild for the Ashes down under (1986-87). England remained a genuinely good side for as long as Mike Gatting was at the helm, then they disintegrated again from 1988 onwards.

Disagree only that India and Australia were competing for the wooden spoon. It was England and Australia who were competing and Australia "won" it when they lost at home in the 1986-87 Ashes. Don't forget that England lost at home to India before that series and Aus were saved by the rain from losing at home and both teams were beaten home and away by NZ and WI and England also lost to Pakistan.

As for the series in Sri Lanka late 1992, you need to get your head around a few very fundamental things. Sri Lanka, while somewhat more competitive (at home only) than a decade earlier, they were still not, by any means, world beaters. Failing to close out a test after leading by 291 on first innings was simply a matter of a minnow lacking experience – very similar to the Durban test of 1949-50 Like 1999, that series came down to a virtual one-off test, given that incessant rain killed any chance of the result in 2nd and 3rd tests. To claim Mark Waugh failed miserably is totally ludicrous. Let’s scrutinise two aspects of our batsmen’s performance in that result test i.e., their score in the come from behind 3rd innings, as well as the total runs they scored across both innings. The 3rd innings score will be listed first, with total match runs in brackets: David Boon 68 (100) Mark Taylor 43 (85) Ian Healy 12 (78) Greg Matthews 64 (70) Dean Jones 57 (67) Mark Waugh 56 (61) Allan Border 15 (18) Tom Moody 1 (14) So, as you can see, Mark pretty much contributed just about as much as anybody else in the only test that mattered, or during the epic come from behind success Sri Lanka allowed them to conjure up at any rate. Of the remaining two tests, only one of them was genuinely wide open for a result for only Australia’s first innings, on account of incessant inclement weather throughout, from the get go for one of the tests. So, Mark made one duck when it mattered, three when it pretty much didn’t. Jones’ 100 not out in 3rd innings of the doomed 2nd test is another classic case of padding, something Jones was notorious for. It could be argued that perhaps 40-50 of that 100 may have been somewhat useful in ensuring a draw, but the problem is the selectors were most UNIMPRESSED because he gave four straightforward chances, three of them in his first 50 – but don’t take my word for that one, read instead the chapter specifically related to Jones in then selector John Benaud’s 1998 book ‘Matters of Choice’. Assuming you bothered to read the breakdown of numbers for Jones against West Indies, Pakistan and Hadlee in tests when series were alive, is it really necessary for me to provide the same for Mark Waugh against the West Indies, Pakistan and South Africa in the 1991-99 period of play??? There is no ‘narrative’ as you put it, just proper balanced scrutiny of player performances, not only something selectors are supposed to do at all times, but also something that brings Jones up well short far more often than not.

India had a very weak attack in the 1980s, no world class spinners at all once Laxman Shiviramakrishna didn’t live up to his hype, bombing massively after bursting onto the scene against England in 1984-85. Their only world class bowler was Kapil Dev, and he was rendered ineffective by the flat, docile Chennai pitch – he went wicketless bowling a mere 18 overs across 171 overs in our first innings, and only bothered bowling 1 solitary over in the second innings. So, you want to dine out on Jones’ behalf on one particular innings? In case you had forgotten, in the mid-1980s, absolute test minnow of less than five years Sri Lanka aside, Australia and India were in a battle to avoid test cricket’s wooden spoon. As already noted, apart from West Indies, Pakistan and Hadlee led New Zealand were the best teams, and England were also above both Australia and India. So bearing in mind the above contexts, to the (second) tied test itself: it’s not especially unheard of, or even uncommon, for two not so strong teams to play out a supposed epic contest – a good example is Australia, rebuilding, against a 3rd ranked New Zealand in Melbourne 1987-88. However, the reality of the 1986 Chennai test is on a par with so-called ‘Amazing Adelaide’ 20 years later: both were well and truly on a boring, dull draw trajectory for the first four days and both should, by rights, have ended as such: the Adelaide game turnaround was wholly and solely on account of imbecilic batting on Day 5 by England, and the Chennai match due to a surprising ‘sporting declaration’ by Border. Now let’s contextualise Jones’ performance: he made a big score on a road in which nearly 1500 runs were scored in 5 days – 300 runs in a single day was rare in those days, and yet this game averaged 297.6 runs per day across a full five days. This was on account of the benign pitch and two weak attacks, Greg Matthews aside. Across the first four days, when on a virtually doomed draw trajectory, the average daily score was 5.4 wickets for 285.3 runs, across the first 3 ½ days, to bring the two first innings to a close, it was 4.9 wickets for 277. Apart from Jones’ 210, there were three other centuries in the match, including another two already in the same team innings, another 90, as well as another four scores above 50, another five in the 39-49 range, and across four team innings, only five batsmen were dismissed for less than 20, and one of those was a run out. Therefore, it is already clear that run scoring in that match cannot in any way be described as difficult, and unconditional drooling over Jones’ innings perhaps just might need a little pinch of salt. Jones’s innings was actually the third best innings in the match behind David Boon’s 122 and Kapil Dev’s 119. Kapil’s innings was played at a time of absolute crisis for his team, while Boon’s innings was entirely on the first day. In the same way that first innings runs almost always trump second innings runs, first day runs also trump second day runs when the team batting first gets to declare late on second day with a decent number of wickets still standing. On the second day, conditions for batting were so easy that Australia was able to score 4 for 345 in an era in which 4 for 245 in a single day put you on top. And one of those 4 wickets among those 345 runs was a night watchman for 30. The first day of the match was the only one of the five on which batting was even remotely difficult, and while Boon scored 122 in 5 ½ hours, Jones was only able to score 56 in 4 ½ . Therefore, the primacy of individual innings in that test was: 1. Boon and Kapil equal 2. Where there is a tie for first there is no second place. 3. Jones on account of scoring a full 50 on pivotal first day. 4. Jones’ second day runs alongside all other batsman on both teams who reached 50, Including Border. Australia lost a mere 12 wickets in the match and one of their specialist batsmen was not out in both innings, having barely gotten a hit. The correct cap for Jones would be 125, while Border’s 106 can be capped at 50. To sum up, in a high scoring match between two very weak teams, in which Australia only needed to use up 60% of their wickets’ resource, Jones made a very worthwhile contribution in a match that technically had a result, but the innings has become somewhat overhyped ever since. As for Jones being the highest run scorer for both teams in the series, this is the ultimate padding of statistics: both 2nd and 3rd tests were doomed write offs, the 2nd on account of constant rain from the outset – in fact, for most of the five days it looked certain to be a rare ‘abandoned without a ball being bowled’ – and the 3rd was a dull, pointless high scoring draw in which a mere 17 wickets fell over five full days. It was as this 3rd test was winding down to a certain draw that Jones made his only other score of note, 73 not out.

so.........you've dismissed India outright as a 'weak attack'........to ignore the Madras miracle double ton?? that series in late 1986 was a spinners series. It was an AWAY series for Australia at a period where Australia was rebuilding. Greg Matthews (14) and Ray Bright (8) were the only Aussies to get more than 2 wickets. Kapil was wicketless for India and Yadav, Maninder Singh and even Ravi Shastri formed a very good spin attack. Jones was highest scorer across both teams for the series. I'm pretty sure AB and Boony aren't suggesting no one count their stats from that series?? Greg Ritchie and Swampy Marsh with 24 and 33 averages respectively would have loved a 92.75 avg!! S.Waugh ended with a 59 average based around 3 not outs and only one dismissal. And then you entirely dismissed the Sri Lanka matches - - late '92 an AWAY tour again and Jones scores more than any other player on either side.....ironically other than Greg Matthews!! (who made 50+ in 5 of his 6 knocks). To write of Jones' form there when - AB went at 40.5, Boon 26.8 and M.Taylor 24.66, Moody 11.83 and M.Waugh 10.16. You can't just dismiss this out of hand. The narrative you are pushing here just doesn't hold. That 'weak' SL attack included a bloke who took 17 wickets at 25.52 (Ramanayake) ; Australia's best was McDermott with 14 at 24.42. So where are you getting over excluding anything you don't like for your narrative??? Pretty sure scoring runs when other don't.....and Jones was dropped after that series!?!??! That's what never added up. Had he failed in Sri Lanka.........then fine. He excelled when others failed and M.Waugh failed miserably.

Some players are only motivated when it is all on the line ... step forward a player like Mark Waugh. How about some justification for that assertion?

Yep sadly right Woody. In form but dropped for the first Indian Test and you know who tours / opens despite not scoring runs outside of Australia And following on the critical interesting thread here Head gets runs when Australia need them badly. Say it again his poise when 90 K + Indians were going off was an Australia Sport highlight for me ( and kept Marnus focused at the same time that's leadership )

Most kids thought that l never qualified to be a teacher. I aimed not to teach and that way kids learnt a lot. But there was hell to pay if they transgressed.

zero succession plans and rotations at end of pakistan series for example or second test in NZ and especially letting warner go for two to 4 years when he should have been outed after some awful series and or averages . They need to factor in lack of cricket in calendar as well

Boo urns, As long as those centuries arent against dud sides , for example after ashes uk where warner averaged 9 fro series , he got picked to play a very poor and depleted pakistan touring australia on an absolute road where aus won the toss repeatedly in the series. One or two big scores anchored up his declining average and most batsmen made decent runs against pakistan. After that his average started to decline again from the last few tests of an average NZ tour and he was picked for 4 more years with a very poor average in the last few years under 30. In general though you are right though . Greens innings against NZ was great as no one else made huge runs like him that test

I’m surprised at all the Jones hate. You don’t fluke your way to that all time Australian record of 210 runs in India at a stronger strike rate than this year’s Bazball while making yourself so ill it permanently affects your health afterward. That was so far before DRS and international ex-bowler umpires, when any hit on the pads during a 330 ball stay was an immediate death sentence. You’d have to show me a double ton against the best of the Windies to be more impressive.

Time will tell

The "incident" was a touch, like a tap on the shoulder. If Jayden follows Murray Goodwin's values and behaviour, he will be a very fine man.

Absolute rubbish again Geoff. Head is a matchwinner with a pass card. There are many better than Webster at Shield level and I would take Olly Davies currently but he is not about to get picked. There are no vacancies. Only the stats kids see otherwise.

Complete garbage Brett. The decks are favouring bowlers and outcomes now, more than ever. Believing the oldies had better techniques is a fallacy only the stupid would fall for. Bowling has gone up multiple levels since T20 arrived and quicks experiment a lot which they never did before. It only takes small deviation to touch a bat edge and pretty much all the bowlers know how to deliver variations now. The oldies would get skittled today.

I saw that. He was flicking Curtly Ambrose over the slips cordon at regular intervals and the big fella was not amused. I'm a huge Damian Martyn fan. Batted like Indians, great touch and wrists through the ball. Always upright and the head still. I rate him ahead of Jones and Mark Waugh but Dean Jones was hard done by because of the poorly performing coach Bob Simpson, a blight on the team.

And you have no idea at all about the way selectors select. Form in white ball cricket gives confidence and flows through and it would be way beyond your WA focus to see what happens in Australia. Obviously you're not a player or you would see the value of the left arm quick in any attack. Right handed batters hate them. So when Starc leaves the scene I'm predicting Johnson will slot in perfectly. And I reckon that is the way selectors will see it. That is if he continues his current trajectory when injury free. Every time I watch him he has been bowling great.

Goodwin has been doing remarkebly well since taking over from Wyllie. Lets hope he doesn't copy the old mans antics when given out :)) I saw the incident but aren't sure it was intentional. But Jayden has stepped straight into the hardest job and is doing great.

Absolutely . What a cop out from the Vics and Tassie. When the time came to perform at the crunch time they both folded awfully. Tasmania have had an excellent season so that was a surprise against the easybeats from South Australia.