A player and commentator ahead of his time, Dean Jones dies at the age 59

Former Australia batsman Dean Jones, one of the finest exponents of ODI cricket, died of a sudden cardiac arrest in Mumbai on Thursday. Jones, 59, was in Mumbai with the Star Sports’ commentary team for the Indian Premier League. He was in a bio-bubble in a city hotel. He is survived by his wife and two daughters. Jones played 52 Tests and 164 ODIs for Australia and was part of the 1987 World Cup winning team. “It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing away of Mr. Dean Mervyn Jones AM. He died of a sudden cardiac arrest,” Star Sports said a press release. 

A player well ahead of his time, Jones scored over 6,068 ODI runs at an average of 44.61 with seven hundred and 46 fifties. For Indian fans, he will forever remain in their memory for the historic tied Test in Chepauk, where he laid the foundation of a big Australian score with an unbeaten double hundred in challenging conditions. There was an iconic picture of Jones throwing up while batting and so severely dehydrated he was that he had to be admitted to a hospital during the course of the Test match.

There is a famous anecdote from that Test match when Jones was suffering from cramps. “I want a tough Tasmanian and not a weak Victorian,” was what Border said, something that spurred Jones on. In ODIs and numerous World Series matches on Australia’s Channel 9, Jones, clad in yellow jersey and the lips lined with zinc cream is still etched in memories of the late 1980s and early ’90s generation.