But the Bective-East veteran says you can always learn a few things, no matter what cricket you watch. Even under-12s' you can learn something from.

Jones spent last week watching son Riley play for the Tamworth under-12s at the Lismore carnival.

"It was good to watch," he said.

"It was good to see Riley do pretty well. Being that year younger in the team it was a good experience for him."

A chip off the old block as they say, Riley was the sides' top run-scorer for the week.

Jones also helps Chris Paterson out with the Tamworth under-13s side and dropped by Ballina on Monday to watch them play the first day of their carnival.

Taking the side on with Paterson as under-12s last season, Jones has really enjoyed it.

"They're a great bunch of kids with plenty of talent," he said.

It has reignited his passion for a game he has been playing at the top level in Tamworth for more than 22 years.

"I kind of lost a bit of, I guess, that love of cricket for a while," Jones said.

"But coaching the younger kids and seeing them do well and how they approach the game sort of gives you that fire back in the belly to want to play again and be a part of it."

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The appetite for runs certainly seems to be there.

Jones is the third leading run-scorer in the competition, and on Saturday struck his fourth half-century for the season to lift the Bulls into Twenty20 finals contention

Chasing North Tamworth's 4-103, Jones finished unbeaten on 52 as they passed the runs in the 16^th over.

The win saw them leapfrog City United into second with the two sides to do battle in next Saturday's final round.

"It was a fantastic team effort," Jones said.

"Our bowlers bowled really well. Even though we only got four wickets, to restrict them to 103, you would have taken that on any day against any team I think."

Coming in with the Bulls' 1-16, his approach was just to bat time - "no matter how I had to do it".

"I just had to stay out there and make sure we batted deep," he said.

"I sort of knew if we batted deep we'd be a good chance of winning that game, so it was just a matter of not trying to do too much, just wait for that loose ball and try and knock the one's around."

"Chasing those sort of totals can be tricky so it was just a matter of trying to be out there as long as possible, and I sort of knew it would come at the end."

Toby Whale also chipped in with 25.

Ben Chick (18) and Lachie Fauchon (16) earlier shared an unbroken 34 run stand to get the Redbacks past triple figures after Mark Tyler had made (31).