NSW cricket boss Andrew Jones to focus on nurturing home-grown talent NEWLY appointed Cricket NSW boss Andrew Jones wants to focus on nurturing home-grown talent rather than loosening purse strings in his bid to bring the Blues back to their glory days. Jones steps into the position vacated by former CEO Dave Gilbert, who was stood down in January after 11 years in the role. It's been a tumultuous period for cricket in the state, but Jones has a strategy to turn things around, starting with providing adequate support for the players. "NSW provides more than 30% of the players to the first class system in Australia and we'd like to continue to do that," Jones said. It's our job to make sure every good young player in NSW, male or female, realises their potential and hopefully a lot of those will be with us and a lot of those will be with other states as well because we haven't got room for everybody. But our first point of call is home grown talent. We'll be working with individuals to make sure firstly, that they are aiming high enough, aiming to be the best cricketers they can be and secondly, to make sure there's a culture of improvement in every player. So if they want to be the best cricketer they can be then it's our job to give very specific feedback on how to be better. If they want to improve and we help them improve with technical, mental, physical tips, then the players will achieve quickly and achieve their potential. His predecessor left amid complaints of poor communication, but Jones insists the channels will be open while he's in charge. He realises the importance of listening to past NSW players and will be reaching out to them on a regular basis. "Past players are a huge part of the history of NSW and are the future of NSW cricket as well because they are part of the fabric of NSW cricket," he said. They deserve to be listened to and understood and have influence, so I'll definitely be reaching out to them. Jones described the role as his "dream job" and is determined to turn NSW Cricket into an organisation to be proud of.