Dean Jones, the former Australian hitter, died Thursday after a heart attack in Mumbai. He was 59 years old. Jones, who was in India as a commentator for the IPL, is believed to have suffered a massive heart attack around noon IST.
“It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of Dean Mervyn Jones AM,” confirmed Star India, for whom Jones was a commentator, in a statement. “He died of sudden cardiac arrest. We express our deepest condolences to his family and are ready to support them through this difficult time.
“Dean Jones was one of the great ambassadors of the game and was associated with the development of Cricket in South Asia. He was passionate about discovering new talent and nurturing young cricketers. He was a champion commentator whose presence and presentation of the game always He made millions of fans happy. Everyone at Star and his millions of fans around the world will miss him deeply. “
Remembered for his double century in the famous India-Australia tied event in Chennai, Jones played 59 events and 164 ODI. He was also part of Australia’s 1987 World Cup winning team. He carved out a career as a cricket coach and commentator after his retirement from all forms of cricket in 1997-98.
Jones was a prolific hitter in all formats. He made his Australian debut in 1984, in an ODI against Pakistan, a format in which he would go and set trends and made an undefeated 40 in an Australia win, before making a first Test appearance a couple of months later in the Indies. Westerners. .
The entries that would remain his most famous came in just his third test when he challenged the conditions to do 210 and then ended up in the hospital. The story that he was spurred on by Captain Allan Border’s comments that if he wanted to leave during the innings “I’d get a Queenslander here” has remained in game folklore.
He would go on to make 10 hundred more tryouts, including a 184 undefeated against England in the SCG and another double against the mighty West Indies in Adelaide in 1988-89.
In one day’s game he was a player before his time, bringing a brilliant run across the fields, an attacking mentality against all types of players and a wonderful fielding. He scored seven centuries, including three out of four innings during the 1986-87 World Series.
There was controversy when he was removed from the test side in 1992-93 just two games after doing the last of his centuries of testing and his ODI career would end in 1994. He continued in first-class cricket with seasons as captain of Victoria and Derbyshire. .
He was the head coach of the Pakistan Super League franchise Islamabad United from 2015 to 2019. He also served as the interim head coach of the Afghanistan national team briefly in 2017.
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