Former Australia cricketer and one of the revolutionaries of the modern ODI game Dean Jones has passed away. The 59-year-old, who was working on the IPL 2020 broadcast from the Mumbai studios, suffered a cardiac arrest, reports Cricbuzz.
Jones rewrote the book on ODI batsmanship, using his feet to charge bowlers and complimenting his style with his aggressive running between the wickets. He was a central cog in Australia's revolution under Allan Border, which saw the side capture its maiden World Cup title at the Eden Gardens in 1987. Jones would go on to feature 164 times in the 50-over format, finishing with 6068 runs at an excellent average of 44.61.
However, that didn't limit Jones to just a limited-overs specialist. He played the first of his 52 Tests for Australia at Port of Spain in 1984, scoring a gutsy 48 on debut and putting on over a 100 with Border despite being sick on the morning of the Test match. Steve Smith had pulled out with a stomach bug of his own and captain Kim Hughes decided to call on the Victorian.
More of Jones's resilience was on display a couple of years on when he battled extreme dehydration enroute to his magnum opus 210 in the tied Test of Madras. Jones went on to have a breakthrough Ashes series in 1989, scoring 566 runs and also topped the averages in his last Test assignment against Sri Lanka in 1992, before selectors dropped him in favour of Damien Martyn. He finished his Test career with 3631 runs at an average of 46.55 including 11 centuries. In all he made, 19188 first class runs at 51.85 with a best of 324* against arch rivals New South Wales in the 1994-1995 season.
Post his playing career, Jones transitioned into a commentator and broadcaster, earning the sobriquet 'The Professor' for his penchant for numbers and analysis. His contract was terminated in 2006 when he was heard calling Hashim Amla a terrorist. A repentant Jones later returned as coach in the Pakistan Super League, guiding Islamabad United to two titles in the first three years of the competition.