Gloucestershire's Geraint Jones describes final victory as a fairytale
Saturday 19 September 2015 19:31, UK
Geraint Jones described winning the Royal London One-Day Cup with Gloucestershire in his final game before retiring as a “fairytale”.
The 39-year-old scored a half-century to help his side secure a six-run victory over Surrey at Lord's that appeared unlikely after they were restricted to 220 in their innings.
But a dramatic finale saw Gloucestershire take regular wickets to secure their first piece of silverware in 11 years and bring Jones' career to a glorious conclusion, after he made the decision to switch counties after 13 years at Kent.
"Unbelievable. At the halfway stage we were a bit nervous because we weren't quite sure we had enough but the one thing this side has got is ultimate belief," Jones told Sky Sports.
"Every single one of them believed we could do it and although it got tough, once we started taking wickets it was ours for the taking. What a feeling!
"We could have just stayed at home and come about 10 past six, it would have been a lot less stressful.
"They were playing really well but we got Sanga's [Kumar Sangakkara] wicket.
"We knew the wicket was tough to get in on and I found that from my batting. It was quite slow and new batsman found it a bit tough but the way we held our nerve at the end there was incredible."
Gloucestershire pace bowler David Payne held his nerve to restrict Surrey in the closing stages of the contest before taking the final two wickets but Jones insisted it was a team effort.
"At some point in every game someone stuck there hand up and did something special but today was a real collective [effort]," added Jones, who played as a specialist batsman rather than as a wicketkeeper-batsman.
"Payney there at the end - he had a bit of a tough time early on in the Twenty20s - but he found his method and stuck by it.
"Full credit to every one of the lads, they were the real reason I game to Gloucester. They have helped me write a bit of a fairytale.
"To go out in this way, to get a few runs and help contribute [is special]. I had a bit of a passenger role in the field to watch it unfold, which was quite nice.
"It was a great way to go out, just incredible."
