Worcestershire batter Rob Jones has announced he will retire from professional cricket at the end of the current season.
The right-hander has been with Pears permanently since 2024, having joined the club on loan from Lancashire for the One-Day Cup the previous summer when he hit a career-best 122 against Northamptonshire.
He was the first arrival under new chief executive Ashley Giles, who gave Jones his first-class debut in 2016 during his spell as head coach and director of cricket at Old Trafford.
The 30-year-old has predominately played 50-over cricket during his time at New Road, scoring 779 runs in 24 innings in List A games so far, including a second hundred for the county as he averaged 47.20 in the Pears’ One-Day Cup winning run last season.
Jones, who has not featured in the County Championship yet in 2026, has scored 593 runs with a top score of 90 in 18 first-class matches for Worcestershire.
He played in six T20 matches, with a top score of 35 not out.
In seven years with Lancashire, Jones won the County Championship Division Two title in 2019 and scored more than 1,700 red-ball runs with three hundreds and eight half-centuries from 46 matches.
“I’m immensely proud of playing 159 games and 11 seasons of professional cricket for both Worcestershire and Lancashire,” Jones told the Pears’ website., external
“I’ve had some incredible memories with the Pears and with the Red Rose, ones I’ll cherish forever.”
Pears head coach Alan Richardson added that Jones “epitomised what it means to be a hard-working professional” and “embodied the values of what it means to be a Worcestershire player”.