Dean Mervyn Jones AM was an Australian cricket player, coach and commentator who played Tests and One Day Internationals for Australia. He had an excellent record in Test cricket and is best remembered for revolutionising the ODI format. Jones was a part of the Australian team that won their first world title during the 1987 Cricket World Cup. Through the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was recognised as among the best ODI batsmen in the world. His batting was often characterised by his agile footwork against both pace and spin, aggressive running between wickets, and willingness to take risks and intimidate bowlers.

Dean Jones wrote the book on one-day cricket. He played a new game in which he walked down the pitch to fast bowlers, ran frenetically between wickets and turned outfielding into an attacking occupation. He was a natural showman who was for a while as popular as any other player in Australia. Yet he was also a classic cricketer who once made a triple-century for Victoria and remained their record run-maker until 2008, when Brad Hodge passed his tally. He averaged 46 in Tests, and in the tied Test in Madras in 1986-87, played what Bob Simpson said was the greatest innings for Australia.

DEAN Jones, known as “Deano” began his first-class career in the 1981–82 season with Victoria in the Sheffield Shield. During his career, he scored 19,188 runs in first-class matches, including 55 centuries and 88 half centuries and a highest score of 324 not out, at an average of 51.85.

Jones was selected on the 1984 tour of the West Indies after Graham Yallop had to pull out due to injury. He was not picked in the original XI, but was drafted into the side after Steve Smith fell ill. Jones himself was very ill before the Test, and deemed his score of 48 on his debut as his "best knock". Between 1984 and 1992, Jones played 52 Test matches for Australia, scoring 3,631 runs, including 11 centuries, at an average of 46.55.

His most notable innings was in only his third Test, against India in the Tied Test in Madras (Chennai) in 1986. Suffering from dehydration in the oppressively hot and humid conditions, Jones was frequently vomiting on the pitch. He wanted to go off the field "retired ill" which led his captain Allan Border to say that if he could not handle the conditions, he would "get a Queenslander”. This comment spurred Jones to score 210, an innings he considered a defining moment in his career and one of the epic Test innings in Australian cricket folklore.[8] This innings of 210 remains the highest score by an Australian cricketer in India. After his innings, Jones was put on to an intravenous saline drip.

One of the keys to Australia's unexpected victory in the 1987 Cricket World Cup was the batting foundation laid by the top three batsmen - Jones batting at number three behind the openers David Boon and Geoff Marsh. Jones would score a total of 314 runs at an average of 44, with three half-centuries. During a 1987 World Cup match against India, one of Jones' shots was changed from a four to a six during the innings break. Australia later won the match by one run. Jones was quoted as saying that he had spoken to the umpires to demand it was changed to a six.

Jones went on to be a mainstay of the Australian Test team middle order over the next six years and being one of the stars of the successful 1989 Ashes tour of England. He was recognised for his efforts by being named as one of Cricketers of the Year in the 1990 edition of Wisden Almanack. He was controversially dropped from the test team at the start of the 1992/93 season, despite having topped the averages in the previous Test series, against Sri Lanka.

Jones stayed in the one-day team a little longer: he was omitted from the one-day team for the 1993 Ashes tour, but managed to force his way back into the team for one last stint during the 1993/94 season. After Jones was dropped from the eighth and final ODI of the series in South Africa, Jones immediately announced his retirement from ODI cricket.

Jones was a significant part of the Australian’s team's revival, playing in the '87 World Cup and '89 Ashes wins, but was dropped while still in his prime. Turbulent stints as captain of Victoria and Derbyshire followed, for his personality was bound not to please everyone. He remained devoted to the game and since retirement was a forthright commentator. An on-air slip in 2006, when he was heard calling the devout Muslim cricketer Hashim Amla a "terrorist", took him off the circuit for a while but he eventually resumed his broadcast work. Jones was coach of the title-winning Islamabad franchise side in the inaugural Pakistan Super League in 2016.

Jones died on 24 September 2020 in Mumbai due to a stroke, aged 59. It was originally reported he had a heart attack. He was a part of the 2020 Indian Premier League commentary team for the Star Network at the time of his death. Jones collapsed in a hotel in Mumbai. Fellow former Australian cricketer Brett Lee witnessed the emergency and attempted CPR to resuscitate Jones prior to an ambulance arriving. The Victorian Coroner confirmed that his death was caused by a stroke.