Mel Jones was a superstar on the field and is now one of the most in demand media hosts off it.
Born in the UK, Mel moved to Melbourne with her mother at a young age as her West Indian father stayed in the UK.
Playing alongside modern greats such as Karen Rolton, Belinda Clark and Cathryn Fitzpatrick, Jones’ played in a dominant era of Australian cricket internationally.
Jones was a middle-order batter and first tasted major success as a part of Australia’s win in the 1997 Women’s Cricket World Cup against New Zealand.
Jones’ hit 131 in her Test debut in Australia’s tour of England for the Women’s Ashes in 1998 (series drawn 0-0-3, Australia retained), and years later was also a part of the victorious home Women’s Ashes series win of 2003 (Australia 1-1-0).
Closing out her professional playing career in dramatic fashion, Jones was again a part of Australia’s win over India in the 2005 Women’s Cricket World Cup final in South Africa.
During her playing days, Mel juggled her career on the field as well as working in cricket development in not only Australia but also South Africa and England.
After retiring from her playing career, Jones has focused on the next chapter of her professional career that has aimed to support, develop and expand opportunities and careers for women in sport both on and off the cricket field.
In 2015 after becoming one of the four first-ever female commentators to be included in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the world’s most attended and watched cricket league, she moved full time into sports commentary in 2016.
Her inclusion into the men’s and women’s Big Bash broadcast lead to her becoming the first female cricket lead in the T20 format in Australia. This was then followed by the same accolade in the Pakistan Super League in 2017.
In 2018, Mel was announced as part of Fox Sport’s Cricket team, where she is a now part of the coverage alongside some of the biggest names in the game.
As a former talent manager of some of Australia’s biggest sporting stars, Mel has also worked and volunteered for various roles across women in sport task forces as well as joining the board of Bowls Australia.
In January of 2019, Jones was presented with one of Australia’s highest honours; the Medal of the Order of Australia for services towards cricket and the community.
Later that year in November, Jones took on a new role as a Director on the board of Cricket Australia.
Mel is a regular when it comes to getting involved in charity work and initiatives surrounding equality.
Mel is currently an ambassador for Victoria University, Red Dust & Change Our Game.
I want to make it (sport) as inclusive as possible for everybody and it has been shut off to a lot of people for a very, very long time.
