GERAINT JONES says he will not allow the rivalry with Chris Read as England’s number one wicketkeeper to affect the friendship between the pair off the field.

The Jones/Read debate continues to be a hot topic of discussion surrounding the make-up of the England side.

In a recent BBC radio discussion about the Ashes squad, Dominic Cork and Phil Tufnell backed Jones, while Worcestershire’s respected Australian coach Tom Moody, tipped as a future successor if England’s Duncan Fletcher ever moves on, sided with Read.

Jones has arrived home after helping England secure their first series win in South Africa for 40 years, before losing the one-day series 4-1.

The Kent gloveman, now first choice in both formats of the game said: "Chris and I get on well, and we do a lot of work together. There is a lot of rivalry because we both want to play, but I will never allow it to come between us as friends.

"I felt very sorry for the guys in the party who didn’t play because it must have a bit mundane and monotonous with no cricket."

Jones admits his England career has been something of a "fairytale" since first getting in chance, replacing Read against the West Indies. But in an honest assessment of his own tour he said: "I wasn’t 100 per cent happy, and would loved to have done better with bat and gloves.

"I did contribute and help with two scores, but my England career has been something of a fairy-tale ride, getting my chance in Antigua, and then hitting my first hundred at Headingley. I am now a centrally contracted player, under the ECB with them telling me when to play and when to rest.

"It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was doing all I could to get a game for Kent. Everything has happened so quickly, and come full circle. In fact, I reckon I have now played more one day games for England than for the county.

"The South African series contained my first Test loss. It was definitely the toughest so far. Every game went down to the wire, and they were always going to battle."

Jones averaged just under 27 in the tests, scoring 215 runs in eight innings, including a highest score of 73. He was then used as Marcus Trescothick’s opening partner in the one-day series, totalling 139 runs, with a best of 39.

He held 16 catches in the Tests, and claimed four catches and a stumping, helping to tie the second match by dismissing new Kent team-mate Andrew Hall, in the one-dayers.

The tour started, controversially in Zimbabwe, with Jones rescuing England twice from embarrassing early batting collapses.

He said: "It was good to be able to show my capabilities in the one-day game. Twice I went in when we were in trouble, first at five down for 110, and then 100-5, and both times we got to 260 which was really pleasing.

"Security was very tight, but there were no protests against us, but we didn’t do much apart from playing cricket and spending a lot of time in the hotels."

Jones was full of praise for the performances of England and Hampshire new-boy Pietersen in the one dayers.

He said: "We saw glimpses if what he could do in Zimbabwe, and he was desperately keen to do well in South Africa. We knew what it meant to him, and with the intensity of the crowd he had a battle on his hands.

"Three hundreds in seven matches was great, and I think he single-handedly held our batting together. He has awesome power, and it’s a pity he is not coming to Kent."

Jones plans to have another week off, and hopes to find time for a game of golf, before getting back into the gym, with the Kent players due back on March 16. He has already met the county’s new director of cricket Graham Ford and believes he has a "passion to succeed".