Benjamin David Jones

Ben completed his Undergraduate study in Sport, Health & Physical Education BSc at Bangor University, achieving a first class honours in 2014. The title of Ben's final year research project was: The darker side of personality: Narcissism predicts moral disengagement and antisocial behaviour in sport. During the term that followed, Ben began a 4 year PhD studentship with the England and Wales Cricket Board, supervised by Professor Lew Hardy and Dr Gavin Lawrence.

The research examines the biographical development of ‘super-elite’ and elite cricketers and follows on from the UK Sport Great British Medallists project. Specifically, the study aims to identify the extent to which practice and training histories, along with demographic factors influence the pathway to the top in cricket.

The goal of the project is to begin identifying players that have a high probability of being successful at international level. There is also a significant applied emphasis to the studentship which sees Ben’s work informing selection meetings across the England Development Programme, along with the utility of Talent Testing, scouting, and performance statistics.