Jones — 'Jonah,' a former miner from Auburn — was the fastest bowler in Australia in 1897-98 and had been the difference in the First Test at Sydney, taking 6/82. His action featured a noticeable straightening of the elbow at delivery; on the 1896 tour to England he had been called for throwing in tour matches by Yorkshire umpires.
Jim Phillips, the Australian-born umpire who would later end Arthur Mold's career, had called Jones once for South Australia v MCC in November 1897, a no-ball that the Adelaide press treated as a personal opinion. The Melbourne call on 1 January 1898 — the second day of the Second Test — was the first time any bowler had been no-balled for a suspect action in a Test match.
The call went almost unmentioned at the time in the Australian press; both the Argus and the Sydney Morning Herald ran the story below the fold. Jones bowled on without incident, took 1/91 across the Test, and Australia won by an innings and 55. Jones played the rest of the series and the 1899 tour to England without further calls. But the 'chucking question' was now public: Phillips would call Mold in 1900 and 1901 (16 no-balls in one match), ending the Lancashire fast bowler's career.
The MCC moved cautiously. A captains' meeting in December 1900 produced a 'list' of suspect actions; the law itself was tightened in 1901. The episode is the foundation of every subsequent throwing controversy in Test cricket — through Charlie Griffith, Geoff Griffin, Ian Meckiff, and Muttiah Muralitharan.