Since the 1960’s Bruce Jones has coached generations of cricketers at the club, regional, state and national level.

This Saturday on what would have been his late wife Margaret’s birthday Mr Jones will quietly reflect on his passion for cricket and leadership. As well as the wonderful support his partner in life gave to his great innings as a cricket coach.

Born in 1938 Mr Jones grew up on a farm outside Wellington in Central West NSW and only played backyard cricket as a child.

When the government wanted to acquire the farm to build infrastructure his father decided to move the family to Wollongong in 1951 . 

A teenager at the time he went to Corrimal High and played tennis until the age 21 when a man named Don Geary saw the A Grade player hitting a ball against a wall and asked if he played cricket.

They needed someone for a third grade game. It was washed out when he arrived so he decided to go and watch a nearby first grade game only to discover they were a man short. That is real interest, passion and love for the sport began.

After a couple of years playing club cricket at Woonona a parent named Alan Ashcroft was watching his son play and expressed his concern about at how the senior players did not appear very interested in helping the younger ones.

Mr Ashcroft suggested a junior cricket club be formed and Mr Jones, a medium pace and spin bowler, should do the coaching. And so In 1964 his coaching career began at Illawarra’s first junior cricket club.

There were five levels of coaching at that time and Mr Jones quickly rose to Level 4 after being identified as having a real talent for helping others develop their skills.

He was the regional director of coaching in the Illawarra when a decision was made to reduce the levels to three.

Mr Jones was considered so good he was categorised as a high performance Level 3 coach which drew interest in his talents at the state level.

Moves to Maitland, Wagga Wagga and Orange for work did not stop him playing representative cricket and coaching.

In Maitland he faced who he still regards as the best cricketer he has ever seen.

“A guy by the name of Geoff Crittenden was a fantastic bat. I had been hit for one six in all the years I had played here and in the first over he hit me for three sixes,” he said.

Then on the first day in Wagga all the clubs approached Mr Jones asking to play for them. It followed an story in the local newspaper initiated by Beaurepaires who he worked for at the time.

He asked them all where they finished in the comp the year before and decided to play for the team that finished last. South Wagga went on to win the title while he was there.

His team mates included a young Peter Stirling. Also playing in the competition was a fast bowler by the name of Geoff Lawson and a batsman by the name of Mark Taylor. Mr Jones still has the ball from the game where he ran out the future Australian Cricket captain.

He continued coaching junior and became great friends with a Warren Smith. The two became known as “Smith and Jones” and set up what may have been the first indoor cricket practice centre in Australia.

Mr Jones also played representative cricket for Wagga and memorable moments included beating Griffith by one run to win the trophy for the first time. The opposing side featured some players who had just returned from playing first grade in Sydney.

When he returned to Wollongong in the 1970’s there was no longer a Woonona club so Mr Jones started playing for Thirroul and continued coaching.

A year after the Illawarra Academy of Sport began in the late 1980’s the late Glenn Tobin rang him up to ask him to be director of coaching which he did for 12 years.

“Glenn said “we have no program. And I don’t know anyone else who has a program”. We were the first regional academy in Australia. I said “okay”.

Mr Jones was the regional director of coaching at the time and stood down from the role to take up the position. He then proceeded to write a coaching program especially for the Illawarra Academy that drew the interest of a cricketer he played against in the Riverina named Peter Spence. 

“Peter was running Cricket NSW. He rang me and said “seeing you wrote the program for the Illawarra we would like you to come down to the academy in Adelaide. We would like you to give us a hand.”

That led Mr Jones to taking an athlete with him from the Illawarra for a week every year for six years. At the Australian Cricket Academy he made friends with Justin Langer. And Ian Chappell was good friends with the owner of a hotel in Thirroul and used to come and watch the local side play.

During his time at the Illawarra academy Mr Jones got to work with many local rising stars including Shane and Brett Lee as well as Phil Jaques who is now head coach of NSW and his predecessor Trent Johnston.

Shane Lee was only 12 when they met. “He was not only my first real cricket coach but he’s been an ongoing mentor. He is a fantastic guy, very knowledgeable and has had a profound influence on my career. At a time when the Australian Cricket Academy through the Institute of Sport in Canberra was really trying to make cricket more professional he was a real forward thinker. He had a very good mental approach to the game. He wasn’t afraid to try things and he was very supportive. He was really big on skills and the mental side.”

David Somerville has been influenced by his cricketing mentor since he was 16. He showed him how to develop as a fast bowler and approach the game. And helped him start his own coaching career at the Illawarra Academy. “He really showed us what cricket is about”.

Mr Jones was also asked to set up a program for the University of Wollongong. And after her retired from the academy he was asked to come back and mentor coaches for two years.

He also coached the Under 17’s NSW Girls team that won the Australian Championship on both occasions.

Mr Jones’s last duty as a coach came in late June with the Northern Districts club.

Don Geary the man who first introduced him to competitive cricket once told he would just know when the right time to pull up stumps was. That decision to retired from playing came at the end of the 1982/83 season and a game Thirroul played against Port Kembla at Stuart Park.

“Port was right on top at tea on the first day. I said “the game is not over until the last ball is bowled”. Don said I am glad you said that because you are getting the ball after tea”. I finished up taking six wickets and we won the game and the Premiership for Thirroul.”

Mr Jones topped first grade bowling for the district that season as well. But that night decided it was time to retire. In late June he came to the same realisation about coaching after 54 years.

His philosophy has always been “you need to concentrate on enjoying yourself. That is what sport is about.” You won’t play your best unless you enjoy what you do. He has taught that to hundreds of cricketers he has coached including Brett, Shane and Grant Lee.

His four sons Graham, Kevin, Ian and Barry and two grand sons Ryan and Joshua all played cricket and his daughter Donna knows a lot.

Asked why he coached for so long Mr Jones said “I enjoyed it”.

Mr Jones worked in the tyre industry most of his career before becoming co-owner of Illawarra Compressed Air Services.

Bruce Jones coaching tips:

“I believe as a bowler you had to know more about the batsman than what they did. And if you were a batsmen you had to know more about the bowler than they did.”

“Concentrate on the fundamentals.”

Favourite player:

Albert Jones from Wagga Wagga.