Dean Jones in Shanghai. <First published on Facebook on 27 Sep…
By: Ram Deshpande
Tags: Australian, Cricket, Memories, Shanghai, Dean Jones

<First published on Facebook on 27 Sep 2020>

Last week was another one this year that brought only bad news. The death of Dean Jones was fate being very cruel. He was only 59 and not sick or anything. More importantly, he was a gem of a person. And, of course, one of the greats of the modern game and cricket broadcasting.

I spent a long weekend with him in 2007 when he joined us in the Shanghai Sixes. Memories of that special weekend came back when I saw WhatsApp groups buzzing with messages about Dean Jones. In spite of Brett Lee’s heroics, he didn’t make it. It is just tough to read about someone suffering in that fashion, and especially if you have seen that person as full of life.

Shanghai Sixes was an annual feature near the end of the city’s cricket season. Retired international cricketers joined us and we played some silly but fairly tough six-a-side 5-over-innings matches.

The tournament started on a Friday. I reached late due to rush hour traffic as I had to cross the Pu river that divides Shanghai into East and West districts. I lived on the West side and the cricket was played on the East side of the river. The pitch was a mat wicket placed in the middle of a large Rugby field of a British international school. It was called the Shanghai Rugby & Football Club (SRFC). The SRFC had a clubhouse at the ground where space was made for Shanghai Cricket Club members on usual match days. The Sixes weekend saw all member teams, families, and friends present. So, each team had its own tent that was used for changing, keeping kit bags, and frequently drinking beer. By the time I entered our tent, everyone had already changed into the the assigned maroon team shirt.

I had to get ready quickly & did not notice the guy next to the team kit bag. He saw me and said

“Hi, I am Dean”

“Hi, I am Ram”, I replied and put my head back in the bag looking for my gear.

A second or two later my mental bulb lit. I thought ‘oh, fuck it’s Dean Jones’. And I said,

“Oh fuckk it’s Dean Jones”

“Of course, behenchod! Haha”

There, right there, I knew it was going to be a great weekend

We had a couple of games on Friday and similar number on Saturday. Sunday was just for the finals if I remember correctly. That meant a lot of free time between matches. Dean spent that time regaling us with stories. So many of them. The best one was when he had asked Ambrose to remove his white sweat bands. A video of that incident along with Dean’s narration is available here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziQ2D9ivqpg. He narrated this incident exactly like that to us in that little tent.

Another story was about David Boon drinking 50+ beers from Sydney to London. While Boon left the aircraft on his feet, Dean had to carry him to their hotel room. Apparently, Dean had to use a forklift to get him up to the hotel lift.

Dean had been retired for many years by then, but he was in good shape and ready to play. He played all the matches. I opened with him in two. I was hoping to watch some fireworks from the best seat in town. But, Dean got out on zero both times. Well….

At the end of the first day we gathered for a team photo.

As we finished taking this pic, I said

“Hey Dean, I’ve got a great story to tell folks back home”

“What story mate?”

“That I batted with the great Dean Jones twice and both times he got out on zero”

Next thing I know my face had a meeting with the footie ball that you can see in his hands.

The guy behind me in the pic is Tim, our perennial number 11. Tim was a really good pace bowler and a fantastic bloke. But, he would probably bat no. 11 in a team of tailenders. He had a nice GM bat though. It was as good as new. It had two red spots: one on the bottom and one on the edge. Those spots showed how well and how much he had batted that season.

Tim asked Dean to use his bat as Dean was padding up for one of the games. Tim also kissed ass a bit and said, “It will be an honour for me if you used this bat”

Dean said “Sure mate” and took the bat.

Dean walked out with the usual swagger and took guard. First ball on good length, high backlift, Dean drove it down the ground. The ball went a few yards outside the 30-yeard circle. As he ran to the non-striker end, Dean shouted from the middle

“THIS IS A SHIT BAT” and threw it away.

Our tent erupted!

In the next game, Tim opened with me. He had to prove something now. With only 4 fielders, I told him “Don’t try to hit every ball for a six. Focus on connecting and run. Follow my call and you will be fine”

I would shout “YES….2” or “YES…..3” judging what we could run after a ball was hit. Tim was following that well. Or so I thought. At the end of the over, Tim and I met. Panting a bit after all the running, he said “mate, I am new to this batting thing. I don’t understand why you shout numbers before running”.

Tim did score a few and returned to his beers in the tent.

With a beer in his hand and grinning ear to ear, Tim walked up to Dean and said

“Dean, did you see that?”

“Piss off mate. I saw what was happening in the middle. Your bat is still shit.”

Our team captain, Jeremy, later told me that Dean had praised my batting. That made my day!

Dean had no reason to hang out with us. He could have been just a celeb addition, played a game or two, took some pictures and gone off to the hotel room like some of the others did.

He was awesome.

He stayed with us throughout. He told stories. He cracked jokes. He tried to teach me footie. We drank beers together. We made top ten lists about all kinds of nonsense, discussed the state of the game, about 20–20 (Dean was the agent of ICL at that time). He asked about our lives in Shanghai. He made fun of Phil Simmons as we went past his tent wearing Maroon. And, of course, he told us more stories.

At that time, Dean was off TV because of that unfortunate Amla comment. He had to pay the price of being in the public eye. He wasn’t racist for sure.

He did his commentary in the tent. While watching the ongoing silly 6-a-side matches, he would suddenly switch into commentary mode.

“slightly short ball, tucked behind square over there; should be two, oh a misfield; they run three; great running between the wickets. Captain’s not going to be happy about that fielding effort”

Imagine describing amateur cricket like that! Dean Jones was so good.

I was so fortunate to see him in action. On the field as well as doing that commentary. He was exactly like how you saw him on TV.

It is a big loss to all who came in touch of this magnificent person.

Can’t imagine what Brett Lee went through. And, it is unthinkable grief for the family.

I hope they find strength to deal with this loss.

RIP Dean Jones!

They don’t make many like him. I will always be a fan.

#DeanJones #RIPDeanJones