This weekend a glittering career will come to an end when Geraint Jones retires from being a professional cricketer and he’ll be missed.

I can say that with some certainty as I and a lot of people will miss him. But worry not, he’ll still be around and the good news is he will still be involved in cricket.

The 2005 Ashes winning wicket-keeper will retire after Saturday’s Royal London One Day Cup Final as Gloucestershire take on Surrey in the showpiece event of the season at Lord’s, bringing the curtain down on a 16-year professional career which featured 34 Tests, 51 ODIs and two T20 internationals for England.

Part of the Kent side that won the T20 Cup in 2007, a domestic final win at Lord’s is one thing missing from his CV and this week the 39 year old said:

“It would be very special to finish by lifting the Royal London One Day Cup in my final appearance. I’ve been lucky in my career with winning the Ashes and lifting the T20 title with Kent.”

“But we lost to Essex at Lord’s in 2008, so that is something that is missing for me so if we could finish with a victory then it would mean a huge amount. It has hopefully been scripted quite nicely!”

I was there in 2008 and I’ll be back at Lord’s again this weekend, largely in part to watch and support someone I can truly call a friend.

One of, if not the most, genuine sportspeople you will ever meet, Geraint is very down to earth and for those that don’t know him, he is truly humble about having had the opportunity to earn a living from a game he simply loves playing.

Nothing is ever too much trouble for Geraint and I don’t think I have ever met a person that’s had a bad word to say about him and I doubt I ever will.

He’ll always go down in folklore as the wicketkeeper that took “that catch” to help England win the Ashes in 2005 and he’ll have those memories with him for the rest of his life.

I was lucky enough to go and watch Geraint and the side at The Oval in 2005, thanks to tickets given to us by the then Kent wicketkeeper and it will be a memory I will cherish forever.

One of his signed 2005 Ashes shirts is up in the office and will always take pride of place.

Geraint’s not quite so sentimental about these things and his Ashes winning medal and MBE were once in a cardboard box in the living room (I’m sure they are now pride of place)!

What stands out for me in all the years I have known Geraint is that he always has time for people and genuinely cares about others, more often than not about himself.

That was epitomised in the early days of Daniel Bell-Drummond’s career when Jones stayed back at the end of a training session to give the young Kent batsman some throw downs. That sums him up. Rather than work on his own game, Geraint dedicates his time to helping others.

For this reason, this is why I am glad he will be passing on his vast knowledge, taking on a role with Brentwood School and retaining his role with me at Catch Cricket where we look to get 2-11 year olds into cricket across Kent.

A dedicated father of two and part of a fantastic family, supported by his lovely wife Jen, Geraint puts his family first and has had to sacrifice much over the years, flying all over the world both for England and at times Papua New Guinea.

Without the support of his family, he wouldn’t have been able to do this and I am sure he has nothing but thanks for those around him that have enabled him to do this.

Many years ago I tried to persuade Geraint to write his autobiography as he has a fantastic story to tell and the title of “Keeping up with the Jones'” seems to be a good one, but he’s not one to blow his own trumpet and you’ll never hear him talk about others for his own benefit (unlike some other former cricketers).

Softly spoken and well respected, Geraint ended his association with Kent at the end of last summer and went on to take up the new challenge with Gloucestershire.

Set to be a two year deal, a day walking along the beach in Brighton in July made the wicketkeeper realise his career was coming to an end and he was going to be hanging up his gloves before his 40th birthday.

I’ve been very lucky to spend a lot of time in Geraint’s company over the years and know that he will be go on to be successful in the next step of his life as no one works harder.

One of my fondest memories will be the day we played together in a charity cricket game. Batting alongside my friend and hero was a dream come true and I’ll always remind him of “that catch” I took that day.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to contribute an awful lot with the bat on that day, but it was fantastic to stand twenty two yards away and watch him smash sixes into the car park.

What really stood out for me that day though was his ability to mix with everyone, making everyone in the changing room feel comfortable and nothing was ever any trouble, signing every last autograph and smiling for every single photo (mine included).

A decent golfer, farmer and slightly keen cyclist, Geraint will be riding The Big Bike Ride 2 in October to raise funds for the PCA Benevolent Fund and Tom Maynard Trust. Both very worthy causes and I applaud him for riding from Truro to The Oval (let’s hope he has some seriously padded pants).

You too can support him here: https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/geraintjones1

I’ve sat down and digested Geraint’s statistics whilst writing this. As the saying goes, there are lies, damn lies and statisics and I have to agree when it comes to Geraint’s career.

He will end his first class career with 9,087 first class runs, 1,172 Test runs, 599 first class catches and 36 stumpings with 128 at Test level along with five stumpings.

What was most remarkable though is that he has bowled 24 balls in first class cricket conceding 26 runs in the process. How and when these happened I will never know as I have sat through a lot of the games in which he has played and can’t remember a single one of them.

Those of us that know him will always look back to that day he made his England debut with pride. No more so than Geraint’s dad and having chatted with him, April 10th 2004 will be a day he never forgets as his son did him and the family proud taking to the field in Antigua with three lions on his shirt.

That game will be remembered by many for being the one where Brian Lara scored an incredible 400 not out and I’m sure Geraint’s knees learned the hard way what it was going to be like for many more years to come.

Fast forward just over twelve months, Geraint and the England team were celebrating winning the Ashes from Australia, the first time in 18 years and a bus trip to Trafalgar Square was in order (complete with blow up Dalek – as you do!).

Moving to the family home, getting married and having kids all followed for Geraint whilst he quietly went about his business of winning games for Kent.

These past ten years seem to have flown by to me and it seems like only yesterday we were enjoying those halcyon days of the 2005 Ashes.

I’ve been lucky enough to spend time with Geraint in various dressing rooms across the country, with Lord’s and the Ageas Bowl being less than happy experiences having to taste defeat.

One of the more bizarre anecdotes I have came a few years back when we were sitting chatting in the dressing room at Canterbury shortly after the tour game with India had come to an end.

With the floodlights beginning to dim and most of the spectators having made their way from the ground, it came as a great surprise to be told by an armed female police officer that we were going to have to evacuate as there was a bomb threat.

Whilst the likes of Rahul Dravid and MS Dhoni were whisked away in a fleet of taxis, those of us mere mortals, Geraint and I included were ushered out of the ground at the Nackington Road End, left to fend for ourselves.

Unable to get to his car, Geraint took it all in his stride as he got a lift home that night.

Over the years there have been some great nights and no more so than during Geraint’s benefit year and I was only too pleased to have attended events at Parliament and Lord’s (although I am sure the powers that be will be less than pleased some people took a shine to some of the cutlery at these venues – no names mentioned).

Sitting on the train home with a rather bemused Kent player whilst said un-named persons revealed what “souvenirs” had come from Lord’s will always make me smile.

Getting drenched going into Parliament was less than pleasurable, but we had a fantastic night there (even if said certain members of our party spilled some very expensive wine all over the table).

I could go on and on with stories from the past and would no doubt bore some people half to death.

I’ll end on this note.

These past years watching Geraint play have been a real pleasure and there will be a tear in a few eyes come Saturday when he leads the side out at Lord’s.

I will sit there in the Lord’s spaceship and look down with a sense of pride. You’re a bloody nice bloke Geraint and all the best.