Ernie Jones: Australia’s First Fast Bowler

Bernard Whimpress

may 2007 · Lives in Cricket Libro 4 · Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians

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Born in a country town in South Australia in a house built by his Welsh father, Ernie Jones (1869-1943) was the archetypal ‘rough diamond’ fast bowler, arguably Australia’s first, inevitably a big hitter, and an inspiration to poets. He is said to have bowled or even thrown the ball ‘through W.G. Grace’s beard’ in the first match of Australia’s tour of England in 1896.

In the winters he was a top-level Australian Rules footballer. With help from 'Jonah’s' descendants and from local archive material, Bernard Whimpress, a leading historian of Australian cricket, traces a remarkable career in which he even signed up to play for Sussex. On the way we take in Australia’s mining cities of Broken Hill and Kalgoorlie, the tragedies of the deaths of his children, labouring at the Adelaide Oval, working as a wharfie at Fremantle, and doing the heavy work, searching ships as a Customs man.

Jones’ story is a big man’s struggle against adversity.

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Bernard Whimpress is the Curator of the Adelaide Oval Museum. A former magazine editor and photographer, he holds a doctorate in history from Flinders University, South Australia.