Boon, Jones in limelight

Press, 25 May 1989, Page 32

Boon, Jones in limelight

NZPA-AAP Leeds David Boon and Dean Jones completed Australia’s international cricket preparation with a run-hungry flourish at Headingley yesterday. Boon hit 172, his third century in six innings, and Jones returned to the fray with an unbeaten 89 as the tourists thrashed Yorkshire by 109 runs in a 55-over match. Following the dispatch of Middlesex at Lord’s, it ensured the Australians will go into tomorrow’s opening oneday international against England in a winning frame of mind. Jones came back a week before the doctors said he should after he had his

cheekbone fractured by a short ball a fortnight ago. One would hardly have known he had had any problems, except for the unusual sight of him wrapped in helmet and visor against a friendly county attack on a surprisingly fiat wicket. Jones was entitled to take things easily after persuading the Australian selectors he was ready to resume hostilities. But after a quiet beginning he opened out his array of strokes and got to within 11 runs of his century off 101 balls before the overs ran out, by which time the tourists had piled up an unassailable 297 for three. While Jones got full marks

for bravery and resilience, the master of proceedings was Boon, whose 172 off 157 balls was, if anything, more commanding than his 166 at Lord’s 12 days earlier. Boon is in stupendous form, the purplest patch of his career. He hit 21 fours yesterday and three sixes, including one which maimed a spectator when it ricocheted off a railing into his face. The ball was leaving his bat so fast that boundary fieldsmen had no chance of stopping anything more than 3 metres from them. Boon destroyed the Yorkshire opening bowler, Paul Jarvis, one of England’s two front-line seamers for

Old Trafford tomorrow. Jarvis dropped him twice after he had reached three figures, and suffered the indignity of being clubbed for 62 runs off his 11 overs. Boon's innings since arriving in England have been 114 not out, 166, 61, 20, 86 and 172 — at an average of nearly 124 runs a time. The Australians then made sure Yorkshire could not approach the target when the first three wickets fell for 23. In the end, a clever 55 by the former England test opener, Martyn Moxon, and a bruising 46 by David Bairstow kept the locals entertained through a sultry afternoon in which Yorkshire had little to be proud of.