BATSMAN Chris Jones is enjoying his time back in the Minor Counties ranks after agreeing to turn out for Dorset this term.

The former Somerset run-getter retired from professional cricket in August last year to pursue a career outside of the game.

He was then snapped up by the Dean Park outfit for the summer, while he prepares to head off to London to start his new profession in September.

But for the mean time, the 24-year-old is hoping to help the county he grew up in.

Speaking about his decision to return to the Dorset fold, Jones told Echosport: “I know Alan Willows (Dorset coach) quite well from playing for Dorset for years and I was thinking about what I was going to do over the summer and how much cricket I was going to play.

“He convinced me that, maybe now it wasn’t professionally, I might enjoy it in a different sense with it being more social.

“It gives it a different perspective, it’s nice to help out the other guys and talk with them.

“It’s not very enjoyable losing games so I would have rather have won them, but it’s quite nice having some involvement with cricket and I’m sure in the future I will still have some involvement, probably not in a playing capacity, but it’s quite nice keeping in touch with the game.

“Hopefully we can go on and get a good start and take the momentum into the back end of the season.”

And with an Ashes series on the horizon this summer, Jones, who racked up his maiden first-class century in June 2013 against the touring Australians, also gave Echosport an insight into that special knock.

The likes of Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon were bowling for Australia at the time but not one of them could prevent Jones from reaching his ton.

He added: “That was the highlight of my cricket career by miles.

“I would have like to have got a Championship hundred in a game that mattered but it was still very nice to get a first-class hundred, and against the Australians made it a bit better.”

Dorset are next in action on Sunday when they go to Exmouth for a T20 clash against Cornwall.