Jamie Cox (born 15 October 15 1969 in Burnie, Tasmania, Australia) is a former cricketer, an opening batsman who played cricket for Tasmania in Australia's domestic competitions.
He previously played county cricket in England where he captained Somerset, and is now a cricket media analyst/journalist and Athlete Career and Education Consultant with the Tasmanian Institute of Sport [1]
Jamie Cox was born in Burnie in Tasmania on October 15, 1969 and from a young age was breaking batting records. In high school, he broke the all-schools batting record for Australian school cricket, previously held by Bill Lawry. He made his first grade debut for Burnie as a 15 year old in 1984.
In first grade cricket, Jamie Cox, with partner Dene Hills broke the Tasmanian first grade partnership record in his first season, and was immediately elevated to first class cricket before his 18th birthday, in 1987.
Jamie Cox was expected to go from there to play for Australia and to captain Australia in test cricket, however in Cox's first 5 seasons, in spite of mostly batting with Dene Hills, Jamie Cox finished with a batting average under 30, which meant that the Australian selectors ignored him from then on.
In 1992, at the age of 23, Jamie Cox had his first good season, where he averaged over 50, and from then on he averaged over 50 in 8 consecutive seasons, bringing his cumulative batting average up to nearly 50.
In 2001, Jamie Cox was playing county cricket in England when the Australian tourists played. With Greg Blewett, Michael Slater and Matthew Hayden struggling, and Matthew Elliot no longer a consideration, Jamie Cox was considered for a call-up. Famously, however, Justin Langer, the former number 3, was brought in to the team as the opener and he scored a great century with Matthew Hayden, establishing an opening partnership that would serve Australia for years afterwards and denying Cox a place in the Test side.
At the end of the 2004 season with Somerset, Jamie Cox was dropped from the county team. He nearly retired, as Tasmania failed to select him. After playing the occasional game for the next season, he announced his retirement from first class cricket in March 2006.
Although he would probably have been picked to play for any other Test nation, the strength of Australian cricket during Cox's career, and a bit of bad luck, meant he never got to represent his country at the highest level.
Cox is now a state-wide Athlete Career and Education Consultant with the Tasmanian Institute of Sport [2]
After writing his "Postcards" series of pre-Blog's in various newspapers while playing, he has already appeared in both Australian and International print including "Inside Cricket" magazine, and on ABC television broadcasts as a comentator and summariser