The net bowlers play an important role in a team’s preparation as the batters need to practice a lot in order to get ready for the match and recently a Scottish spin bowler’s dream came true after he got the chance to rub shoulders with the Indian cricketers.
The Indian cricket team is currently in Rajkot where it will play the third test match against England starting from 15 Feb and the young Scottish cricketer Thomas Jones drove all the way from Ahmedabad for bowling in the nets.
Thomas Jones is a leg spinner who didn’t get the chance to bowl to the England cricketers as they prefer to play finger spinners in the morning so he approached the Indian head coach Rahul Dravid before the Indian session started and Rahul Dravid gave him just one ball to claim the opportunity to bowl to the Indian batters.
After finishing his session, Thomas Jones told mediapersons that he went straightaway to the Indian head coach and he gave him just one trial ball to prove himself and luckily the ball landed on the right spot and Dravid allowed him to bowl to the Indian cricketers.
25 years old Thomas Jones got the chance to bowl Mohammed Siraj, Dhruv Jurel and KS Bharat and he did trouble Jurel with his bowling. Talking about bowling to KS Bharat, Jones said that he bowled a lot to the wicketkeeper when he was a net bowler for Gujarat Titans. He added that he enjoyed bowling to Bharat but now he is moving to Kolkata Knight Riders. Jones also praised KS Bharat by calling him a good player of spin.
Thomas Jones is married to a Gujarati girl and he is exploring his chances of playing First class cricket for Gujarat but it will take around five more years to get the documentation work complete because of which he is now trying his luck in Scotland again and looking forward to join their T20 team.
Thomas Jones was pretty happy bowling to the Indian players; he said that the Indian squad was very welcoming and it was a great and different learning experience for him as the Indian players are world class cricketers.
The Scottish cricketer was also happy meeting the England cricketer Zak Crawley with whom he is friends for a long time as they both used to play for Kent Academy. Zak also signed Thomas’ cap with a message for his wife and Thomas said that he will keep it as a souvenir.
We wish Thomas Jones all the best for his future endeavors!