Famous Cricketers No 89 - F.S.Jackson

In the Lord’s Test of 1899 England were roundly beaten, typically nobody put up a stauncher fight in support of his new captain than Jackson, scoring 73 and 37. At the Oval Jackson (118) and Tom Hayward put on a then record 185 for the first England wicket. On 26th April 1900 Cricket listed 61 cricketers who were either at the front, or on their way to fight in South Africa. Captain Jackson, of the 3rd (Militia) Battalion of the King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment was among their number. Struck down by enteric fever in the summer of 1900 he was invalided home on the Avondale Castle . On his arrival in England the debilitating effects of his illness were clear to see and yet at the end of August he accepted an invitation to play in the Gentlemen v Players match at Scarborough. After a year away and a couple of gentle nets, Jackson scored 134, carrying his side from the travails of 34 for 5 to the respectability of 259 all out. The match was lost, despite Jackson’s fighting second innings 42 on a drying wicket. No matter, the soldier had returned. Jackson returned to South Africa in the spring of 1901. Shortly afterwards, his mother died. When he returned to England in 1902 it was to marry Julia Henrietta Harrison-Broadley, the daughter of the MP for Brough, in the East Riding. While Jackson had been away Archie MacLaren had failed to regain the Ashes in Australia. MacLaren nevertheless, was the man most likely to lead England against Joe Darling’s touring Australians that summer. Now 31 years old, Jackson must have wondered if his best cricketing years were not already behind him. Perhaps, this rather than anything else led him to return to the fray. Once again, after a long absence from the game he scored a century on his return, 101 against Essex at Leyton. A fortnight later on a wet wicket at Sheffield Jackson returned match figures of 8 for 13 against Lancashire. Before the First Test he made few other runs but at Edgbaston his 53 began the fight back after England had begun badly. From Edgbaston the Australians travelled to Headingley where Jackson, who had developed the knack of imparting off-spin to what looked like his normal medium fast delivery, and George Hirst bowled the tourists out for 23, with Jackson taking the last four wickets in six balls. The Old Trafford Test of 1902 was a personal triumph for Jackson. On an under-prepared pitch with rain in the air only Jackson’s first innings 128 saved the day. Albeit to no avail, as the Australians eventually won the match by 3 runs and with it, retained the Ashes. In 1903 Jackson played only nine first-class matches. It was the first season since 1892 - excepting 1901 when he had been in South Africa - that he failed to score a century. It was a disappointing year for Yorkshire also, with Middlesex taking the Championship. That winter MCC sponsored its first official England tour of Australia. Jackson was invited to captain the side but business, military, political and domestic commitments meant he had no option other than to decline. Perhaps, inspired by the recovery of the Ashes by Plum Warner’s understrength England side in the winter of 1903/04, Jackson rediscovered his form with the bat in 1904 scoring centuries against Surrey and Sussex in June, and scoring consistently when he found time to play to such effect that he was 12th in the batting averages that year. Tellingly, his bowling was in apparent decline even though he had perfected a deceptive ‘arm ball’ that now and then, speared through the defences of even the best batsmen. In the spring of 1905 there were rumours that Jackson would play little or no cricket that year. However, his batting in 1904 had confirmed he was at the height of his powers and Jackson never 7