The summer of 2022 saw opener Michael Jones finally convert promise into solid first-team returns. He began his fifth season as a Durham cricketer with a maiden first-class hundred at Grace Road, in the second round of the Championship, and followed that up a few months later by batting for more than eight hours to amass 206 from 381 balls against Middlesex at Chester-le-Street.

Jones finished the season with 878 runs at 51.64, top-scoring for his team in the Championship, having also added a T20 debut and a first hundred in List A cricket during the Royal London One-Day Cup. He subsequently went to the T20 World Cup with Scotland, who he was eligible for thanks to a Scottish mother, making 86 off 55 balls in their defeat to Ireland in Hobart. The following year, he was an ever-present member of the Championship XI as Durham ran away with the Division Two title.

Born in Ormskirk, Jones spent time at Lancashire's academy and featured in county 2nd XI matches for Durham, Derbyshire and Leicestershire before signing a senior academy contract with Durham ahead of the 2018 season. His club cricket background was at Ormskirk and, after his move to Durham, Tynemouth CC. Jones actually made his international debut before he had played for his county. Still a Durham academy youngster, he hit 87 in a fine debut for Scotland against Ireland in Dubai as his more experienced team-mates toiled. That breakthrough was followed by a first-team debut against Derbyshire at Chesterfield in June of that year.
ESPNcricinfo staff