Jones holds out England hope

Geraint Jones suffers more disappointment during last winter's Ashes © Getty Images

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Former England wicket-keeper Geraint Jones is confident he still has an international future.

Jones last played for England in the third Ashes Test in Perth last December and slowly fell down the pecking order with Chris Read, Paul Nixon, Matt Prior and, most recently, Durham’s Phil Mustard preferred.

But Kent ’keeper Jones is confident he can continue his domestic form from the end of last season and add to his 34 Test and 49 one-day caps after Prior and Mustard were given the nod for the three-Test tour of Sri Lanka, which begins in Kandy on December 1.

“The Sri Lanka tour was a bit of an outside shot. It is something for the future but I think for this winter they are looking elsewhere, but hopefully I can use my county form next season to force my way back in,” Jones said.

“I had a poor start to the summer and it wasn’t until the fifth game that I started to play well and I averaged around 50.

Jones still retains hope of returning to England colours

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“But it was just the first four or five games that dragged the average down," added Jones, who scored 623 LV County Championship runs at an average of 34.

"I was happy with the finish so I just want to carry that on next year.”

Jones, who was dropped after managing just one half-century in 12 Tests, has set his sights on building on Kent’s Twenty20 Cup triumph this summer and reproducing the form which saw him burst on to the Test scene in 2004.

“We won the Twenty20 which was fantastic, but the championship and the other one-day form was a bit indifferent so that plan for next year is to combine it all together because we could have had a great year,” added Jones, who is in Hong Kong to take part in the Cricket Sixes tournament alongside Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Brian Lara.

“We were flying in the Pro40 for a while but we lost three or four games in the middle which really threw us and we were struggling from there.

“Our one-day form was always good, but it was not good enough.

“I was looking to relax over the winter after having the last six or seven years on the road, which has been quite tough, so it is nice to be able to relax and play a bit of cricket.”