Dean Jones: The man who saw tomorrow

Scott Styris was wiping away tears even as the cameras trained on him. Brett Lee gamefully carried on as he paid tribute to Dean Jones. Lee, only a few hours earlier, had administered  CPR to Jones. Yet, here he was... talking about the life and times of one of the game’s first  great modern pioneers. On Wednesday, Jones was on air, dissecting the IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders. After lunch on Thursday, the 59-year-old had passed away, a massive heart attack claiming the life of a man who lived cricket.   

In the dug out studio, the suit Jones wore on Wednesday was placed on the chair he sat on. His customary red book was kept on the table as a mark of respect. On the field, Kings XI and RCB carried on. It is what he would have wanted, Lee said. It can be argued that he breathed new life into it as the sport moved away from the traditional five-day format to the brave, new world of ODIs in the 1980s. And it came at a time when Australia was searching for new stars as they sought to win the World Cup for the first time. His on-field energy, the importance he paid to running between the wickets and ability to find the gaps was futuristic. 

It can be said that the vision he brought to Australian cricket put them on the path of greatness that led them to dominating the white ball for more than a decade both sides of the millenium. He also made a casual observer of the game fall in love with the sport because of the way he commentated about the sport. To the Indian viewers in the 21st century, he was one of the first voices they heard and  subsequently fell in love with. 

Jones entered into Indian cricket’s vast folklore thanks to his heroics in the tied Test at Chepauk.  On two extremely hot and humid September days in Madras in 1986, he batted and batted and batted. He kept losing body fluids as Madras’ brutal weather took a toll on his body. But the Victorian battled bouts of vomiting, dehydration and the principles of biology to play an innings that no Australian had ever played before on Asian soil. 

Maninder Singh, who played for the hosts that day, told this daily: “I became a fan after  watching him play that Test. It was just his spirit and the heart he showed. Those conditions...  they were brutal, very hard. He stood for a lot of things. Above all, he always had a smile on his face. That smile...”
Full story: newindianexpress.com