Jones made his Sussex debut in 1981 and in his fourth first-class match took the wickets of Graeme Wood, Trevor Chappell and Kim Hughes in a return of four for 68 against the Australians.
[3] In the winter of 1981–82, Jones was in South Africa where he made two appearances for the weak Border team in matches in the SAB Bowl competition, both of which were lost by an innings.
[5] In both 1985 and 1986, Jones played in around half of Sussex's first-class matches, but in a county which boasted Test players Imran Khan and Tony Pigott, as well as Garth Le Roux among its bowlers, his place was never assured, and he was injured for part of the 1986 season.
Jones joined the Somerset side at a point of maximum turmoil when the contracts of overseas players Viv Richards and Joel Garner had been terminated and Ian Botham had resigned.
[10] In 1989, with other Somerset bowlers injured, Eric Hill's notes for Wisden recorded Jones "playing in every match in spite of some injuries and occasional trouble with some authorities for his huge enthusiasm to get rid of batsmen".