By Huzaifa Yousafzai from Kia Oval
On Tuesday night at the Kia Oval, Surrey eliminated Durham in the quarter finals of the Vitality T20 Blast by chasing the target of 162 with five wickets and two overs still remaining.
Although much of the side will look to bounce back next season, one player who has probably played his last game for Durham is Scottish batter Michael Jones.
It was announced at the beginning of August that Jones would be returning to his birth county of Lancashire ahead of the 2025 season, something that Durham coach Ryan Campbell admits is disappointing.
“Unfortunately we won’t be watching him in a Durham shirt any longer which is a shame because he’s off to Lancashire and it’s disappointing for us,” said Campbell after Durham’s defeat to Surrey.
Despite no longer continuing with Durham, Campbell still believes that Jones will be a very entertaining batter to watch thanks to development he has undergone during his time in the north east.
“I think when Michael (Jones) looks back he will think about the changes we made to his T20 game which is going to make him into a bloody good player.”
A Durham press release in August stated the reason why Jones moved back to Lancashire as “he wishes to move closer to his hometown of Ormskirk.”
Born in Ormskirk, Jones spent time at Lancashire’s academy before moving to Durham as he also qualifies to play for Scotland through his Scottish born mother.
Jones actually made his international debut for Scotland before he had played for his county. In 2018 he scored 87 for Scotland on debut against Ireland whilst still a 19 year old Durham academy teenager.
Recently Jones participated at the T20 World Cup in the West Indies including an unbeaten 45 from 30 balls against his birth country of England in a washed out game in Barbados.
Despite opening the batting at the T20 World Cup for Scotland, Ryan Campbell explained why Jones is used so far down the order when playing for Durham.
“Michael Jones all season has been our power hitter and our finisher, so the decision is to make sure that he’s going in at the right time for us and we have to protect him a little bit because we want him to play all guns blazing and that’s what finishers do.”
“For Scotland he’s an opener and for us he used to open up, but we’ve developed him into a such a power hitter now that I would have thought he’s going to be something special to watch.”
Despite electing to play for Scotland, those in the English county game should be keeping an eye out for Jones whose ball striking ability will certainly take centre stage at Old Trafford come next season.
