Dean Jones: Australian cricket legend dies aged 59

Australian cricket was rocked today by the news that former batsman Dean Jones died suddenly at the age of 59.

Jones suffered a heart attack in Mumbai, where he was working as a commentator for Star India on the IPL.

Jones, who also played county cricket for Derbyshire and Durham, represented Australia in 52 Tests and 164 ODIs between 1984 and 1994, and was one of the pioneers of white-ball batting and a World Cup winner in 1987.

He made two Test double-centuries, including one in the tied Test at Madras in 1986, after which he was put on a saline drip due to dehydration.

Since retiring in the late 1990s, Jones worked as a commentator, analyst and coach.

Tributes poured in from across the game, with Sachin Tendulkar describing him as “a wonderful soul taken away too soon” and Derbyshire CCC saying that it was “a tragic loss for the game”.