Richard Jones and Stephen Mather are cricketers with much in common – troubadors, both, who have travelled the country north to south searching for the best place and the chance to fully display their talents
Steve McMorran14-Feb-2001Richard Jones and Stephen Mather are cricketers with much in common – troubadors, both, who have travelled the country north to south searching for the best place and the chance to fully display their talents.Jones came from Auckland to Wellington in search of a fresh beginning, a new and unbiased audience, when he found his favour in his home town had begun to wane. Here, in a town and at a ground which had always been pleasing in his memory, he found his second chance.And Mather, even more the cricketing gypsy, moved from Wellington to Otago, from Otago to Wellington in search of satisfaction, stability and a stage from which to entertain. He also was a minstrel in search of inspiration and the chance to entertain.Today in diverse but complementary performances, Jones and Mather found their muse and their apotheosis. Today, in each other’s company, they found the sanguine setting which allowed them at last to express their true abilities.In masterpiece innings which straddled three sessions, Jones and Mather produced a fourth wicket partnership which was a record for Wellington against all first-class opponents and which gave them unshakeable control of their Shell Trophy match against Otago which concluded its third day.Jones made 188 – his second first-class century, his second century in consecutive Trophy matches and his highest first-class score – and displayed in front of his new home audience the ability he and a few discerning others knew that he possessed.Mather made 107 – his first century in this Trophy season in which he has returned prodigally to the Wellington colours, an innings which was more arduous than celebratory but which made a timely declaration of his talent when he had begun to feel self-doubt and the doubts of others.Jones was playing to prove his worth to his new province and Jones also to demonstrate worth because he felt that his form had invited reappraisal of his selection. Together they put on 274 for the fourth wicket as Wellington reached 407/7 before declaring their second innings and, with their 80-run first innings lead, put in front of Otago a total of 488 to win the match.They also left themselves a minimum of 120 overs in which to bowl Otago out and to add outright points to those they have already achieved for a first innings lead. In 20 overs before stumps tonight, Otago’s international openers Matt Horne and Mark Richardson batted soundly to reach 61/0. Horne was 41 and Richardson 19 when stumps were drawn.But the day was wholly dominated by the collusive achievements of Jones and Mather. They had come together before stumps on the second day when Wellington was 63/3 and struggling to build decisively on the foundation of that first innings advantage.They saw Wellington with some difficulty but great care to 100/3 at stumps and they resumed at that total this morning determined to bat to lunch, then to tea and to consolidate Wellington’s position of strength.Wellington owed its state of overwhelming command to their efforts, particularly to their achievement in batting through the first session. By the end of that session Wellington was 202/3, Jones had his century and Mather had made dogged progress to 44 and was ready to branch out.Jones resumed at 39 not out and scored 73 runs before lunch, reaching his 50 in 175 minutes and his 100 in 268 minutes, when Wellington was 184 and Mather was still only 38. Mather had been 16 when Wellington resumed and added only 28 in the 140 minutes before lunch.Mather’s performance in that first session was anything but characteristic. He is usually a dashing batsman and he had a lively century in club cricket on Saturday to emphasise those credentials. But he knew how important to his confidence and, possibly, to his continued selection chances a big innings was today. He talked about managing the risks in the early part of the day and he was only prepared to increase his strokeplay when the first perils of the day had been negotiated.Jones batted with much more of his natural freedom before lunch, even more before lunch and tea, when Mather matched his scoring rate, and with complete abandon after tea as Wellington rushed towards a declaration.The partnership was finally broken in the shadow of the tea adjournment when Mather stepped away to off to pull a ball from Bradley Scott and was bowled behind his legs. At that point the partnership had endured 319 minutes and 529 balls, Mather had batted 19 minutes more than five hours, faced 259 balls and hit nine fours.Jones went on to reach 175 by tea – his 150 came in 373 minutes – then tried to pounce on a double century as Wellington batted 10 overs after the break before declaring. He reached 188 before he was finally out, driving a low return catch to Scott in the 116th over of the innings – the first with the second new ball.He had batted through all of those 116 overs, for 433 minutes, facing 357 balls and hitting 22 fours and two sixes, the first of which brought up his half century. Nor was he even tired at the end. Scoring runs is never tiring, Jones said.He remembered that he had scored his first first-class century – 141 – for Wellington against Canterbury in their previous Trophy match at Christchurch then been out first ball in their first innings here before mounting to a century again. There, in a nutshell he said, was the vicarious nature of cricket.Jones’ first call at the close of play was to the man he calls his mentor – to Barry Sinclair, the great former Wellingtonian who, as club captain of Auckland’s North Shore club, has taken a proprietorial interest in his career. Sinclair encouraged Jones when he felt he had exhausted his opportunities in Auckland to move to Wellington and try to reanimate his cricket career.”That’s why I came down here … it wasn’t happening for me in Auckland,” Jones said.”The stats added up. If you look in the almanac I was underachieving and I’d be the first to admit that. I needed a change and I realised I had to get out of that comfort zone.”I realised I had to go out and, rather than have promise, go out and do it. So I decided to come to Wellington. I’d always liked the city and it’s the best cricket ground in the country so I thought I could settle here. I contacted Wellington and they said there’s a position in the team but it’s for an opener. When I came down here they said you can open or you can’t play. I said ‘okay, I’ll open’.”Mather also knew the time was ripe for him to make his mark. He had been unavailable for Wellington’s early Trophy games because of work commitments, had played the Cup matches but knew he needed to give a sign of form.He was in danger of becoming a “club bully” he said – someone who scored lots of runs in club games but not at a higher level. The importance of the innings, the state of the match, curbed his early strokeplay, he said, but the best thing of all was that he had responded to his team’s need.”I just didn’t want to make any mistakes. I lowered my risk levels as much as I could. I figured if I got through the first session I could open up and play a few shots.”One of the pleasing things about the innings was that we were in a bit of trouble when it started at 63/3. So my batting was a bit out of character at first. I had to avoid the risk, try to bat us out of trouble and then free up.”I’d missed out in Canterbury on a flat wicket but it wasn’t in a situation where my innings would have made a difference or altered the state of the game. Today, when an innings was needed, I produced.”I was pleased today that I didn’t give many chances and while it wasn’t the most flamboyant knock I did what was required when it was required. I played the percentages.”