On Saturday, it all went according to the script and Geraint Jones ended his professional cricket career winning the Royal London One Day Cup.

Having spent the past dozen or so years following Geraint’s career with interest and becoming good friends, it seemed only right and fitting I should make the trip to Lord’s to watch him play one last time.

Last week I published a blog, summing up what has been a fantastic career. If you haven’t had chance to have a look yet – here it is: http://www.kentsportsnews.com/blog-thanks-for-the-memories-geraint-17-09-2015/

We got chance to catch up on Thursday at Canterbury, recounting what has happened in a career that saw the wicketkeeper batsman win the Ashes in 2005, the Twenty 20 Cup with Kent in 2007 and have some memorable days out over the years.

One thing I gleaned from that chat was that Geraint was more than calm about what was going to happen at Lord’s on Saturday and he was actually looking forward to facing Surrey with his spirited and young Gloucestershire side.

At 39, Geraint will admit he is no spring chicken, like myself, but has every much the same amount of love for the game when he started out and it’s great that he will be staying involved by doing some coaching in schools and hopefully with some of the aspiring young cricketers in Kent.

Retiring from being a professional sportsman is a day that many cricketers try and delay as long as possible, as they try to avoid the inevitable getting a “real job”.

That’s never really phased Geraint and he’s spent the last two or three years looking at what options he had with umpiring once on the table and having spent time on work experience with a London based sports sponsorship company.

Many other cricketers could certainly take a leaf out of his book and plan better with many just dropping out of the game and finding the culture shock of day to day life hard to cope with.

This weekend was always going to be special in so many ways and going into Saturday’s Royal London One Day Cup Final it seemed as though Surrey would be firm favourites with the likes of Jason Roy, Kumar Sangakkara and Jade Dernbach amongst their ranks.

Arriving at the ground with plenty of time to spare, it was good that I got the chance to spend just a minute or two with Geraint before he headed over to the Nursery Ground to have a quick net.

It’s here that I was able to gauge his mood going into the big game and it’s fair to say he was nothing less than his usual, relaxed self.

There may have been the odd nerve bubbling under the surface, but he certainly wasn’t showing it. Geraint was also hitting the ball well in the nets and that gave me cause for optimism.

What was to happen in the next seven or eight hours can only be described as incredible.

Sat up in the press box with a nice cup of tea and a few biscuits to keep me company (after an incredibly relaxing massage from the talented Jas Rai), I’d barely fired up my laptop when the game seemed all but over.

That was the general consensus of the press box when Michael Klinger was out third ball without scoring. I was probably one of the few people that still believed, although even I had my doubts at this point.

Wickets fell at reasonably regular intervals and when Geraint strode to the wicket for the last time, Gloucestershire had limped along to 100/4 in the 23rd over.

Two overs later and it was 108/5 when Gareth Roderick was bowled by the evergreen Azhar Mahmood (who ended up with figures of 2/28 in his ten overs – and six of those runs were a towering blow from Jones).

More gasps in the press box and mutterings about how this was going to be a one sided game, but I kept the faith. All of the time Geraint was there, there was still hope.

 

Stay there he did and along with Tom Smith, the pair put on 52 runs for the 6th wicket. A measured approach at first was described by Geraint after the game:

“The family were here, although I had to keep batting because the boys had swimming lessons this morning and then had to get the train up.”

“I kept looking across to where they were meant to be sitting and couldn’t see them. I knew I couldn’t get out until they showed up and it spurred me on.”

“I was somewhere in the 30s when they eventually turned up and I breathed a huge sigh of relief.”

I too had been looking for Geraint’s wife Jen and the boys, struggling to deal with the sun glaring into the Lord’s press box, unable to spot them.

Thankfully they arrived in time to see Geraint take the side from a position of almost certain defeat to one of respectability.

Smith departed for 20 as he was run out and the side were then 160/6, allowing Jack Taylor to join Geraint with the pair adding another 49 runs for the seventh wicket.

No sooner had Geraint made it to fifty, he was out. Bowled by Dernbach will be what goes down in the record books. He faced 65 balls, hit four fours and a six. What the record books won’t show though is the manner of the innings and the importance to his side.

Dernbach was to go on and get a hat-trick as Gloucestershire were skittled out for 220 (although David Payne can consider himself incredibly unlucky having been given out lbw as the ball struck him on the body and the replay showed the ball would have missed the stumps by a long way).

Having consumed a rather delicious lunch in the press box, I wandered around to enjoy more hospitality courtesy of the ECB in their box and had a good chat with friend Paul Daniels about all things cricket.

It was here that I was sat when Geraint was to lead the Gloucestershire side out for one last time.

There was plenty of emotion around the ground and it was fantastic to see so many fans rise to their feet to honour what has been a great career.

I remember turning to Paul and saying to anyone else that would listen that I had the firm belief that Geraint and Gloucestershire would win the game. I’m sure some there thought I was either deluded or had enjoyed too much of the free hospitality.

When Jason Roy was out for just 11 in the 6th over, I dared to dream. When Steven Davies departed for 13 some six overs later, Surrey were 42/2 and there seemed to be a chink of light and Gloucestershire fans started to believe.

This is where it started to go slightly wrong. I almost blame myself as I did the worst thing you can do as a cricket fan. I left my seat.

Thinking I might have overstayed my welcome eating and drinking the ECB out of house and home, I thought I should wander back to the press box to see what culinary delights they had to offer.

With a few nice cakes and fresh cup of tea for company, I sat back down in the press box and watched as Surrey wrestled control of the game.

Sangakkara and Rory Burns put on a century stand for the third wicket with the Sri Lankan seemingly almost unable to dismiss, whilst Burns hit some lusty blows.

At 143/2 the game looked dead and buried as far as Gloucestershire were concerned. Surrey needed just 78 more runs to win with over fifteen overs to get them and eight wickets in hand.

That’s when the game turned with Sangakkara dismissed for 60 and two overs later Burns was back in the pavilion, gone for 56.

Wickets were then to fall at regular intervals as the Gloucestershire faithful sat close to the press box got ever louder as they began to believe the impossible was in fact possible.

When Azhar Mahmood was stumped by Roderick for 5, dancing down the wicket to smack Smith somewhere, Surrey were 191/6 and the game was back in the balance.

Tom Curran was to depart with just one more run added. This is when the nervous tension in the press box became obvious.

Surrey somehow meandered along to 214/7 and with it the game seemed back in the bag. The run out of James Burke for 11 saw Surrey lose their final three wickets without troubling the scorers.

The roar that went up when Gareth Batty pumped Payne out to Taylor in the deep is one that will live with the Gloucestershire players for a very long time.

I had my eye firmly trained on Geraint at this point to see what his reaction would be and I was delighted to see him get the full “airplane” out and he was off.

 

The next few minutes are a bit of a blur as I frantically tried to post what had happened on Facebook and Twitter (well I was there in an official capacity after all).

When the dust had settled, the press box was kicked into life and the post mortem began on how Surrey had thrown away a game they should have won.

As a reasonably neutral spectator, I was able to wallow in the delight of seeing the Gloucestershire players celebrate.

Grabbing one last slurp of tea, I headed over in front of the pavilion to watch the trophy being presented and was thrilled to see Geraint had been joined by his two boys.

After a brief man hug and a few words between us, Geraint and the Gloucestershire boys began their much deserved lap of honour.

Taking his time to sign as many autographs as possible, get everyone’s pictures done and savour the moment, Geraint had the chance to take Rhys and Tom on a memorable journey around the hallowed ground.

One delighted onlooker was former Gloucestershire and England wicketkeeper Jack Russell and it was great to see he and Geraint embrace, sharing in the joy of winning the cup.

As the light began to fade and much celebration in front of the Gloucestershire fans, it was great to see Geraint get into the crowd to spend some time with his wife Jen, and in-laws John and Carol.

Whisked off to begin countless interviews, I managed to get some words with Geraint and this is what he had to say about his special day:

“The day’s been unbelievable really to finish the game in a game that I thought we weren’t quite winning, At the halfway point we probably didn’t have enough runs, but the way the boys played at the end, they held their nerve. I’m very lucky and honoured.”

“That’s the sort of situation I like playing in, a bit of pressure giving me a chance to shine.”

“I had to keep batting as Jen and the boys hadn’t got here and I couldn’t finish batting until they had turned up. The fact they were here to see me hit fifty was unbelievable.”

“To finish here at arguably the best ground in the world is incredible. It might take a while to sink in and I could have one heck of a hangover in the morning!”

 

The next few hours will be something Geraint will hopefully remember forever as he spoke to all and sundry about what had happened, breaking off to celebrate with his Gloucestershire team-mates.

I was left to make my way back home on the tube with the fabulous photographer, Sarah Ansell and Kent’s very own Simon Willis, who had watched his beloved Arsenal lose at Chelsea before hot-footing it over to Lord’s.

Sifting through my many photos from that day, it was a somewhat late night to bed that night, but was well worth it as I tried to post some memories for Geraint and his family in Australia to enjoy.

A quote from Geraint sums him and the day up. It reads:

“To go on and make 50 in my last match in a big final at Lord’s was quite something. My boys saw me do it and I feel so privileged.”

Cricketers will come and go, but few will have had the career Geraint has and all I can say is, thanks for the memories pal.

Some pictures supplied by www.sarahansellphotography.com