‘Australian cricketer Dean Jones has son out of marriage’

MELBOURNE - Former Australian cricketer Dean Jones has revealed he had fathered a child during an “on-and-off relationship” with a woman in Sydney.

Jones, 49, confessed he has a son, aged about one, outside of his marriage, but said he wasn’t involved in a legal dispute with the child’s mother, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The former batsman, who played 52 test matches and 164 one-day internationals before retiring in 1994, admitted Saturday about his extramarital affair after Channel Nine’s A Current Affair said it would expose him in Sunday night’s show.

“Following an on-and-off relationship with a woman, a child was conceived and subsequently delivered,” Jones said.

“I can also confirm that I have supported the mother and child more generously than was agreed. At no stage have I not met my obligations.”

But the child’s mother, whose name has been withheld, is believed to have taken legal action as part of a battle over child support.

A Current Affair reporter Ben Fordham claims “papers have now been lodged in the courts”.

Jones, however, stressed he was unaware of any legal claim against him and said he had met every financial obligation “and more”.

Jones, who has two daughters with wife Jane, is now fighting to save his marriage.