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| October 30, 2005 | Sunday | Ramzan 25, 1426 |
Aftershock not strong enough to jolt Jones
ISLAMABAD, Oct 29: The English cricketers are slowly getting used to life in Pakistan and had a taste of an aftershock of the earthquake in the wee hours of Saturday but the tremor was perhaps not strong enough to wake up wicket-keeper Geraint Jones.
“A couple of the guys mentioned it in the pool, definitely felt something but it takes a bit to wake me up,” the Kent player told the media at the team’s hotel in Islamabad.
The aftershock, one of hundreds that have followed the Oct 8 earthquake that killed more than 53,000 people in northern Pakistan measured over 5 on the Richter scale but in no way seemed to bother the touring team who arrived here on Wednesday.
Their preparations ahead of the first Test in Multan starting on Nov 12 remained on track as they trained for the third day running at the Rawalpindi Stadium. It will be at this venue that the tourists begin their warm-up in earnest with a three-day game against the PCB Patron’s XI beginning on Monday.
Jones has really enjoyed the first few days of the tour. “It has been really good and enjoyable; we worked hard in the gym and off the field. A fortnight’s preparations for the first Test and the way things are going we’ll be ready.”
With the tourists having sought permission to play 14 players in the three-dayer, Jones thinks if this materialised he would get first chance to have a look at the conditions and get used to them. England also have on the squad a reserve wicketkeeper in Sussex’s Matt Prior.
And Jones who has 20 Tests under his belt is wary of the competition that Prior could provide. “He has done well and I have to be aware that there’s some competition.”
Prior has yet to make his Test debut but played his only One-day International against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo in the 2004-05 season.
With Prior hard on his heels, Jones is looking forward to showing what he is capable of doing in Pakistani conditions. “The pressure is there but for me it is making most of the opportunity.”
The wicket-keeper, who has one century to his name as a right-handed batsman wants to remain a part of “a great, successful side” that won the Ashes series in the summer for the first time in 18 years. “I want to make sure that I stay in that side and be a part of this journey that the guys are on.”
For him though the Ashes is now consigned to the past. “It is great to sit in my room and re-live the summer but a new challenge is on. I look forward to this and then India and then travel to Australia.”
With reports that the wickets for the series that comprises three Tests and five One-day Internationals would be turning ones, Jones felt it would provide England an advantage.
“It will be an advantage for us because Ash (Ashley Giles) is bowling well. We have heard rumours that the pitch might turn more now that Mushy (Mushtaq Ahmed) has been recalled.”
Pakistan on Friday recalled not only Mushtaq but also named “bad boy” Shoaib Akhtar, the pace ace who missed the away series against India and West Indies.
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