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Geraint Owen Jones (born 14 July 1976) is a former cricketer who played for both England and Papua New Guinea. Born to Welsh parents in Papua New Guinea, Jones was the first-choice wicketkeeper for the England cricket team between 2004 and 2006. He later played international cricket for Papua New Guinea from 2012 to 2014. He announced his retirement from first-class cricket in July 2015 following his resignation as the first-class cricket captain of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club.
After retiring, Jones joined Brentwood School as their cricket professional in November 2015. Ashes-Winner Joins Brentwood School . Brentwoodschool.co.uk (4 September 2015). Retrieved on 2018-08-06. He also worked as a business studies teacher. In 2019 he trained to become a retained firefighter with Kent Fire and Rescue Service.
In 2005 he took the final catch of the 2005 Ashes Test at Edgbaston, ensuring an England victory by two runs. In the 2006 New Year Honours, Jones was awarded the MBE for playing in the successful Ashes series.
A succession of dropped catches and missed Stumped during his England career had caused many commentators to question whether his value to the team as a batsman was sufficient for him to hold his place against competition from more accomplished wicket-keepers such as Read and James Foster. Until mid-2006, the England selectors maintained faith in Jones believing that he offset his mistakes with several well-timed performances with the bat. His batting form tailed off and, after suffering a broken finger, he was replaced by Chris Read for the third Test against Pakistan in 2006.
Jones was not awarded a 12-month central contract for 2007, although neither was Read and both players were selected for the 2006-07 Ashes series. Jones played the first three matches of the series but was dropped after poor performances and never regained his England place. Jones goes back to his roots, CricInfo, 16 January 2007. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
He played again for PNG in the 2013 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier, where he was a standout in the middle order for the team and provided much needed stability to the lineup, scoring 216 runs, with an average of 27 and a high score of 55. In early January 2014 he played in the 2014 WCQ held in NZ, top-scoring with 88 runs against Hong Kong, his highest score for PNG. PNG finished fourth in the tournament and were awarded One Day International and T20 International status by the International Cricket Council. Jones played in two ODI's for the team, both against Hong Kong in Townsville, Australia.
| Test cricket | 100 | England v New Zealand | Leeds | 2004 |
| ODI | 80 | England v Zimbabwe | Bulawayo | 2004 |
| T20I | 19 | England v Australia | Southampton | 2005 |
| First-class | 178 | Kent v Somerset | Canterbury | 2010 |
| List A | 87 | Gloucestershire v Leicestershire | Grace Road | 2015 |
| Twenty20 | 56 | Kent v Sussex | Canterbury | 2009 |
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