Rhodes allays Jones fears

Steve Rhodes, the Worcestershire director of cricket, has insisted that Simon Jones's latest knee injury does not threaten his long-term future in the game.

Jones, who was forced to pull out of the England Lions matches against the South Africans last week, will undergo an arthroscopy to clean up the knee as soon as possible. It blights what has been an encouraging season for his new county, after switching from Glamorgan, but Rhodes is adamant that Jones will return.

"Simon is a bit down," he told PA. "He is sick to the back teeth with injury problems and he is disappointed not to reach some of the targets he has set himself, such as 50 championship wickets this season.

"But he has done marvellously for us. He has given our attack something it didn't have. He's been an aggressive, impact bowler and I've been delighted with him.

"He's made the England selectors notice him and to make the initial squad for the Champions Trophy was a fantastic effort.

"The goal was to get him through to the end of the season, and we almost got there, but if you had asked me at the start of the season, I'd have settled for what we've had from Simon during the past four months."