OUTGOING Worcestershire pace ace Simon Jones is being lined-up with a return to his home county Glamorgan.

Sophia Gardens director of cricket Matthew Maynard will meet with the board of directors on Thursday in a hope to be given the green light to speak to the 30-year-old.

The 2005 England Ashes hero has not played this season due to a knee injury which has required three operations since last autumn and was told last week that his contract would not be renewed when it expires in September.

Yet despite his injury curse, the ex-England assistant coach is keen to bring the Llanelli-product back home to Wales with Jones confident of being fit for the 2010 campaign.

“Obviously Simon has had injury trouble and he would need to be given a medical, but even at 90 per cent fit he is still a superb bowler, as everybody knows,” Maynard said.

“He is a quality performer, and the fact he can swing the ball both ways makes him very dangerous.”

Jones is due for talks with Hampshire coach Giles White sometime this week with an offer of a pay-as-you-play deal believed to be on the table and Surrey are also reportedly interested.

While the reverse-swing bowler was not happy with how his exit from Glamorgan came about, there is a new set-up at the Welsh county and Maynard might be the deciding factor for the player who still lives in Wales.

The director of cricket was not at Glamorgan when Jones was released and now that the Swalec Stadium has hosted the first Ashes Test, it’s believed that chairman Paul Russell has promised to invest money in the team.

But Jones’ former County colleague has to get his plans past the board first before stepping up his pursuit.

“We have a committee meeting on Thursday and I’ll put forward my proposals then,” he said.

“Hopefully they will be rubber-stamped and then we can start talking to Simon.”