Mel Jones's busy diary

Mel Jones: making a living out of county cricket © Getty Images

Australian Test batsman Mel Jones says the single most influential person in her career is her mum. But it was her cricket-mad West Indian father, whom Jones did not meet until she was 16, who brought the game into her life despite the miles of Pacific Ocean between them. Cricket regularly plopped into the letter box of Jones' Melbourne home as she was growing up, as her dad religiously forwarded Wisden Cricket Monthly magazines each and every month from the Caribbean. Rarely can a father so many miles away have had such an influence on the shape of his daughter's life.

Now, at 31, Jones follows New Zealander Haidee Tiffen in making a living from county cricket. Because not only is she captaining Surrey Women in the County Championship for a second year (for which she is not paid), she is also working for Surrey in a development role (for which she is).

On a typical day she runs coaching sessions in schools, then either trains with the Surrey team or works with the Surrey Academy and Under-15 squads in the evening. One evening is left free for individual sessions with the Surrey coaches. Head coach Jeremy Greaves has been a particularly positive force. "He does some super work with the squads over the summer and winter," says Jones. "I've learnt so much from him. As well as coaching Surrey, he's my satellite coach, which means we have one-on-ones, in liaison with my coach in Australia."

She attributes much of her recent success in New Zealand, where she averaged 41.20 in the one-day series, to the work done with Greaves last year. Athletic and energetic, Jones has played only eight Test innings, which have yielded more than 250 runs. She made her debut in 1998 but a dip in form led to a two-year absence from the international scene including, frustratingly, missing the Ashes tour of 2000.

She returned to the Australian Test side in 2003 with a half-century against England © Getty Images

But after three seasons with Surrey she has witnessed enough cricket in England to rave about the improvements. "I've seen the women's game leap forward. In the time I've been involved there are so many more opportunities for girls to 1) be noticed 2) play more in school and 3) be put through into academies."

On the field, Jones detects a reluctance for players to hit over the top. She believes county matches can sometimes become "very inner circle" affairs whereas Australia have a `don't worry' attitude towards taking risks and going for the bigger shots. In England, where there are few international games, girls want to make the most of their chances and not risk their wicket.

As for on-pitch banter, there is no surprise that the Australian women take a leaf out of Steve Waugh's book. This is not to say that mental disintegration is necessarily the order of the day but Jones feels that, compared to England's women, Australia have the edge in competitive attitude. "We're not as social in the field, you might say. If you compare a county game here to a National League game back home there's a bit more of a hardness in attitude."

A successful World Cup in South Africa, in February and March 2005, is a major goal on the horizon but until then her main aims are to help Surrey steal the Championship from Sussex and to make the most of England's variety of beer, which she says is her favourite thing about the country.

"I want to try every beer in the world," she says. That's Aussie determination for you.