Lives in Cricket No 43 - John Jackson

47 A trip up to Glasgow on 1 August saw Jackson take six for 25 in 42 overs against XXII of the Glasgow Caledonian Club in a drawn match. On 8 August the AEE played Captain Handley’s XXII at Barton Court near Hungerford, losing by thirteen wickets. In the next match, at Lincoln on 15, 16 and 17 August, Jackson was slightly injured in a collision with the Lincolnshire batsman, E.A.Howson, and could not bowl in the county’s second innings. He had taken three for 25 in their first innings in 21 overs. The AEE won by nine wickets. On 29, 30 and 31 August at Gainsborough Richard Daft achieved the feat of carrying his bat through an AEE innings, batting for six and a half hours and scoring 67*. A collection for Daft raised £3.10s. In a match in which Jackson did not bowl attendances were 600 on the first day, 900 on the second day and 200 on the third day with a total of £3.12s.6d in gate receipts. The AEE captain, George Parr, objected to the presence of Rowbotham as a given man for Gainsborough, and the start of play was delayed whilst the matter was resolved. It was finally agreed that W.Prest should take Rowbotham’s place in the side. The AEE won by an innings and 40 runs. Two days later on 2 September after another long journey the AEE took the field on the Broadwater ground in Godalming, Surrey, where the AEE beat XXII of Godalming, Guildford and District by 22 runs. Jackson bowled 41 overs in the match, taking three wickets for 40 runs. Haygarth maked the somewhat tart comment that ‘as Mudie, Lockyer, Baker and co were not shown as being given men, even though they clearly were, the district must have been rather large’. Six of the local team were run out. Playing against XX of the Sheffield, Hallam and Staveley Club on the Hyde Park Ground in Sheffield on 9, 10 and 11 September, Jackson’s contribution was mainly with the bat. He scored only 10 (run out) in the AEE second innings but he helped R.C.Tinley add 70 for the last wicket, vital runs as they only won the match by 54. Tinley’s hard hitting in his innings of 80 was loudly cheered by the crowd of 2,000. Then it was straight off to Chatham in Kent where the AEE beat XVIII of Chatham and District by 96 runs with George Tarrant and R.C.Tinley proving too strong for the Chatham side. The last of Jackson’s AEE matches was at Middlesbrough on 16, 17 and 18 September where Jackson bowled 14 overs to take two for 11. In truth he had not bowled much since his collision with Howson in the game at Lincoln. Nevertheless the local Middlesbrough paper was full of praise, speaking of ‘fast and furious bowling from as fine a handler of the ball as ever saw leather’. Jackson also struck 35 in quick time when AEE batted. The principal tradesmen of the town shut their shops to give their employees a chance of watching the game, enjoyment of which was marred by very cold weather and frequent showers. Jackson played in two of the Nottinghamshire trial games, one as early as 1 April when the county side played XXII of Nottinghamshire Colts, beating the youngsters by an innings and 47 runs, with Jackson taking At the Height of His Powers