Batter Jones still targeting England place
Central Sparks captain Eve Jones says she still has ambitions of playing for England following her record-breaking century in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy.
The 31-year-old hit an unbeaten 136 in the Sparks' final-over win at Thunder - the highest score by a women at Old Trafford.
Jones captained the England A side on their tour to Australia two and a half years ago and her good form earned her a place in the squad that faced the full Australia side in a three-day warm-up game in Leicester last summer.
The Shropshire-born left-hander said winning full international honours is still very much an ambition but is trying not to get too preoccupied by it.
"I’ve had quite a bit of experience playing in the England A team - the A-team Ashes a couple of years ago was great," Jones told BBC Radio Shropshire's The Cricket Show.
"Obviously I've not made my full international debut, but to be honest I’m just focusing on being the best cricketer I possibly can.
"If international honours come that would be great but my main focus at the minute is just try and do the best I can for the team and keep improving."
Jones' former Birmingham Phoenix team-mate and England all-rounder Georgia Elwiss, said she was "quite surprised" Jones had not had a senior call-up after "having the season of her life and scoring runs of fun two or three years ago".
Elwiss, the co-host of The Cricket Show, added: "I think there’s a number of girls domestically who could easily have played for England and done very well and Eve is definitely one of those.
"I think her attitude is such that the way she goes about her cricket and her approach to it means that should England honours come at any point in the future, she’ll be in the best possible place for it."
For now, though, Jones' focus is on her domestic form and says it was "pretty nice" to set that new individual high-score record at Old Trafford - especially after losing a tight game to the same opponents days earlier.
"We lost by one run. I got 65 and got out and didn't take that responsibility so I had that extra drive to see us over the line," Jones said.
"There was a lot of determination to turn our season around in the that game."
Jones is also "very excited" about the challenge of playing for a different team in this year's Hundred after skippering the Phoenix last season.
Having not been retained by the Edgbaston-based side, Jones was picked up by Manchester Originals in the draft and is looking forward to playing more often at the ground where she made that record score.
"I'm really excited to go back up to Manchester. Obviously it's a ground I love playing at and I'm really looking forward to the opportunity," she said.
"A fresh environment is a good thing as well. We had a really tough year at Phoenix and being captain you take a lot of responsibility on yourself when you don't do so well.
"At my stage of my career I still want to improve and play at the highest level I can."
