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Ahhhh Jonesy.  The one man at the club who practices what he preaches.  There’s a rumour going round the Rec that 1^st XI captains down the years are under strict instructions to not get promoted in case Jonesy takes us all to the pub and indulges in a few drinking games.

Peter is a true Englishman from the wilds of Lancashire.  He was for (many) years a very good batsman who made a stack of runs with his model front-foot shots but was never slow on getting onto the back foot either (it says here in Dennis Compton’s autobiography).  He's played for West Chiltington since 1959 with only a few wilderness years - a minor disagreement saw him play a few years at Arundel.  Peter is the only player we know who has played on the old pitch at Thakeham.  He returned to the Rec. to play for WC prior to the merger.  Now in his twilight years, he plays for the merged club turning out these days only on special occasions - usually when there’s no golf game on. 

Although essentially a good batsman and an agile fielder, Peter was no fool with the ball and having never bowled much by his own admission until his twilight years, he suddenly started turning his arm over and bowling with plenty of drift (it says here in Harold Larwood’s autobiography).  He has taken two “michelles” for WC&T and remarkably, his best batting score for us was at Amberley when he was a few short of a ton batting with one eye as he was awaiting surgery on a cataract!

When we re-launched the colts’ section in 2005, Peter got very dewy-eyed as he had been instrumental in the seventies (that’s the 1970s, you wags) running the original colts’ section at West Chilt.  He gets tremendous pleasure imparting wisdom to the younger generation – especially with his legendary forward defensive.  Wasted on the youth, Boycott would say and I suspect young Peter would agree with him.  His younger son Simon used to play for us before he moved to London and watching Jones Junior bat in the early noughties, you could see who’d had a hand in his development!  Ed the elder son liked his living too much to be an athletic sportsman but having been in the team when Ed and Peter are playing, the two of them cackle away in the slip cordon with only half an eye on the game.  Peter remains crucial to our colts having become Colts’ Manager for 2010 which is a fitting position for him to hold today. 

Jonesy is, let’s face it, a sensational sportsman.  He’s rumoured to have played association football at Blackpool with Sir Stanley Mathews but decided against a professional career as he could make more money as a solicitor (it says here in Stan Mortenson’s biography).  He’s a great squash player and not a bad golfer of course – let’s face it, he gets enough practice (it says here in Teresa Jones's autobiography)  He also wasn’t a bad rugby player in his day & supports those Worthing types down on the coast.  However as a Lancashire fan and a committed MCC member who makes the most of his membership by frequenting Lords whenever he can, cricket must be near the top of his loves (with red wine and real ale of course).  As someone who’s sat next to him at Lords and who was at the White Lion when we won promotion to West Sussex Division 1, I can confirm that the great man remains great company and a joy to be with.  No one ever has a bad word to say about him.

Wherever you play in Sussex and one suspects the world, if you say you play for WC&T, the response is always: “Do you know Peter Jones?” Another much loved man of our Club who has always done the right thing which is why the game is as much about Peter Jones as he is about the game.

Awarded legend status for tireless efforts with the colts, with the committee and in the bar.

Peter Jones – Green & Gold Statistics

Seasons at West Chilt & Thakeham: Eight (2001 - 2008); 49 games

Game results: Peter's won 36.05% of games he played in

Next Week: Rob Llewellyn

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