Test cricket suits Amy Jones, who is in the richest form imaginable

NICK FRIEND: There are few in the women’s game quite so easy on the eye when in full flight as Jones, perhaps even fewer who are able to access the off-side so freely and with such a sense of panache

When England last played Test cricket, they didn’t leave Taunton with a great deal of positivity: a bore draw played out on a turgid, used surface – a result that confirmed their Ashes fate in the process. Rain led to a forgettable final day, with hands shaken once it became clear that Australia would be adopting a pragmatic, entirely logical approach in accepting the inevitability of spoils shared rather than affording the home side a route back into a game they had scarcely held a chance of winning.

The occasion also marked Amy Jones’ red-ball debut, six years after her ODI bow – yet another reminder, as if one was necessary, of quite how rarely the opportunity comes about for Heather Knight’s team to challenge themselves in the sport’s longest format.

In reality, Jones’ success should have come as no surprise: there are few in the women’s game quite so easy on the eye when in full flight, perhaps even fewer who are able to access the off-side so freely and with such a sense of panache. Indeed, in her younger years, it was why she struggled at times with the contrasting freneticism of white-ball batting, where she fought against the burden of boundary-hitting and clearing the rope.

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“Especially early on in my career, one of the hardest things I found with batting was the internal pressure of having a good strike-rate and dotting up,” she tells The Cricketer, speaking at the launch of Cinch’s partnership with England Cricket.

“Obviously, that’s not an issue in the four-day game, so I naturally liked that aspect of it.”

Her solitary Test innings to date was a nod to that sentiment; opening the batting against an Australian attack starring Ellyse Perry, who in the limited-over legs of the multiformat series had claimed a considerable hold over Jones, she made 64 off 140 deliveries – the kind of vigil that might stand her out as a Test veteran, if only that were possible in a format where England have played just six times since 2013. When the touring bowlers overpitched, she drove gloriously; when there was no stroke to be played, she steered well clear.

^{Amy Jones kept brilliantly for England in New Zealand}

Knight has spoken openly about that particular quandary for England’s batters – a mental hurdle as much as anything, having to adapt an entire gameplan for a once-in-a-blue-moon fixture: leaving balls that simply can’t be left alone in white-ball cricket, the bread and butter of the women’s game – and, ironically, on the basis of which much of this Test squad has been selected, given the absence of a multi-innings competition at domestic level.

“For us as a batting group, we’ve talked about how you get comfortable with not scoring and how you get comfortable soaking up pressure for a little bit and the rhythm of the game and getting used to that,” said Knight at the start of this month.

That approach comes more naturally to Jones than most, pointing to a sporadic history of three-day games for England Academy in helping her to understand the nuances at play, as well as an internal practice fixture – albeit ruined by the weather – that preceded the start of this season’s Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy.

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“I enjoy it and I like the tempo of batting in it,” she says. “In one-day cricket, it’s something I’ve had to work quite hard at: relaxing and still timing the ball, not getting tense if I face a couple of dots. I feel a lot more comfortable around that now, having worked on it for years, but definitely early on in my career that was an issue.

“I know I play at my best when I’m just watching the ball and reacting, which is obviously a good starting point. As the game progresses around you and you might face a few good balls, you might not get them away. But it’s just about mindset and controlling the emotions around that, not building it up and missing out on the next ball because you’re overhitting and trying to force it.”

It is pleasing to hear Jones talk like this, at ease with her own game ahead of her second Test appearance, now a key cog in this England side under Lisa Keightley. That confidence is seemingly well-placed, coming into the international summer as the leading run-scorer in the regional competition, having churned out a pair of tremendous centuries for Central Sparks in the early rounds from the middle order.

Speaking last week, Knight confirmed that Jones will continue in that position for the start of the international summer, having settled there after being replaced at the top of the innings by Tammy Beaumont during the T20 World Cup last February.

“It’s something she’s done in white-ball cricket really successfully,” said Knight. “We see her – and I think she sees herself now – as a middle-order player, a middle-order player that can dictate a game and win matches in that really crucial middle order.”

It is a shift that makes a great deal of sense, not least in allowing Jones a moment’s relief once she has completed wicketkeeping duties. When England faced Australia two years ago, Jones opened the innings with Beaumont, though Sarah Taylor still had the gloves.

Taylor’s return to the game – signing up to represent Welsh Fire in The Hundred and Northern Diamonds on the regional circuit – has been one of the feelgood stories of this fledgling summer.

“It’s brilliant as a teammate to see that she’s in a much better place and that she feels ready to come back,” Jones smiles. “It is great to see her back out there playing.”

She has spoken previously to The Cricketer of the difficulty in replacing a figure as iconic as Taylor, whose glovework transcended the women’s game to such an extent that the quality of her batting – only Charlotte Edwards and Claire Taylor hit more ODI hundreds for England – was sometimes overlooked.

^{Amy Jones comes into the international summer in prime form}

These days, however, Jones has made the role her own: she kept brilliantly on England’s winter tour of New Zealand. And sat on the other end of a Zoom call in her England whites, the overwhelming emotion is one of excitement as the chance finally arrives to build on her debut fifty, albeit two years down the line.

“I think we were all pretty excited when we found out,” she adds. “Obviously, we play the standalone Ashes Test normally, so having another game is brilliant. The more we play, the more familiar we will get and the better we’ll get. It’s one of those really; it’s a bit strange playing a one-off every two years.

“I think as a female cricketer, it is just something you’re used to, knowing you’re going to play one Test match in the Ashes. I think it’s a tricky one; we would like to play more and we do enjoy playing them, but at the same time we’ve got a really good following around our one-day and T20 series.

“Lots of people come out and watch that format, so I completely understand why we don’t play more, but I think there is definitely an argument for it. The standard of women’s cricket is increasingly globally and there are definitely more teams who could really compete at Test level now. As players, we enjoy all formats – it’s cool playing a Test match, but it is quite novel for us. We would be keen to play more.”

Cinch is Principal Partner of England cricket. For more information on how cinch is helping to drive women’s cricket forward, visit cinch.co.uk