Stephen Jones (cricketer)

{{Short description|South African cricketer (born 1955)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}

{{Infobox cricketer

| name = Stephen Jones

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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1955|4|14|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Cape Town, South Africa

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| date = 1 December 2020

| source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/45753.html Cricinfo

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Stephen Jones (born 14 April 1955) is a former South African cricket player and coach. He played in 81 first-class and 35 List A matches for Boland and Western Province from 1974/75 to 1987/88.{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/45753.html |title=Stephen Jones |work=ESPN Cricinfo |accessdate=1 December 2020}}

Coaching career

Jones ended his playing career as a player-coach with Boland B.{{cite news|url=https://www.pitchvision.com/cotm-jones|title=Coach of the Month: Steve Jones|publisher=PitchVision Sports Technology|access-date=12 September 2023}} He later coached in Namibia before returning to South Africa where he coached Border. He was head coach of South Africa A for a tour of Zimbabwe in 1994,{{cite news|url=https://mg.co.za/article/1994-09-23-from-captain-to-coach-for-kepler/|title=From Captain To Coach For Kepler|newspaper=Mail & Guardian|date=23 September 1994|first=Jon|last=Swift|access-date=12 September 2023}} and also coached the national under-19 team on tours of England and India in the mid-1990s.

In 2003, Jones was appointed head cricket coach at Harrow School in England. In February 2004 he was also appointed head coach of the South Africa women's national cricket team.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/3393609.stm|title=Jones leads SA Women|publisher=BBC|date=3 February 2004|access-date=12 September 2023}} On a 2004 school tour of Sri Lanka, he and his students were caught up in the Boxing Day Tsunami while playing against a local school at Galle International Stadium. The players and spectators had to shelter on the roof of the stadium for several hours, with the stepfather of Spencer Crawley – one of the Harrow students – being killed.{{cite news|url=https://mg.co.za/article/2004-12-27-narrow-escape-for-sa-cricket-coach-in-sri-lanka/|title=Narrow escape for SA cricket coach in Sri Lanka|date=27 December 2004|access-date=12 September 2023}}

Jones coached South Africa to the 2005 Women's Cricket World Cup, which South Africa hosted. The team won only a single match and failed to secure automatic qualification for the next World Cup, leading Jones to publicly criticise Cricket South Africa for its lack of assistance for women's cricket.{{cite news|url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/williams-steers-west-indies-home-143849|title=Williams steers West Indies home|date=5 April 2005|access-date=12 September 2023|publisher=ESPNcricinfo}}

References

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