Lives in Cricket No 43 - John Jackson

51 At the Height of His Powers learned, Kent played with 14 men at Canterbury on 11 and 12 August and won by 170 runs. England was not at full strength as stars like Hayward, Daft, Anderson, H.Stephenson, Lockyer and Mortlock were all unavailable for various reasons, and Carpenter received a blow on the elbow from a ball by R.Lipscomb which rendered him incapable of continuing. Kent made 171 and 236, England scoring 105 and 132. Jackson made 44 (run out) in England’s second innings, batting for a while with E.M.Grace who scored 56. In Kent’s first innings he took four for 47 in 31 overs, 0/17 in second innings. The most sensational event of the season took place at The Oval when England met Surrey on 25, 26 and 27 August. England began by scoring 503, the highest score made in a first-class match to that date. They batted for nine hours, 55 minutes with Hayward hitting 117, Grundy 95 and Parr 94. But the real sensations began when John Lillywhite, one of the umpires, took exception to the bowling action of Edgar Willsher and refused to change his verdict that the bowler’s standard delivery was unfair. Bowlers were supposed to deliver with the arm below the level of the shoulder, and Lillywhite claimed that Willsher did not comply with this. The only solution to the impasse was for another umpire, G.Street, to replace Lillywhite on the third day when Surrey made 102 (Jackson three for 19 in 17 overs) and 154 for six (Jackson two for 42). The action of Lillywhite eventually led to a change in the law, allowing freedom to bowlers to deliver the ball from above shoulder height. John Jackson appeared in 26 of the AEE matches in 1862, 15 of which were won, scoring 263 runs and taking 289 wickets in a mammoth stint of 1257 overs between 15 May and 4 October with hardly a break. Many of the games took place in the North of England, especially in Yorkshire with some other excursions into Lincolnshire, Surrey and Hampshire along the way. The first match was at Kinning Park, Glasgow on 15, 16 and 17 May when the AEE played out a draw with XXII of the Clydesdale Club, Jackson taking eight for 23 in 24 overs in the locals’ second innings. The next match was against XXII of the Sheffield York Club at the Endcliffe Ground, Sheffield on 19, 20 and 21 May. Jackson took a fine twelve for 19 in the first innings in a four wicket win followed by three for 22 in the second innings. The pitch was a rough one, newly laid with cinders working through the ground in places, making it rough and dangerous on which to be facing a bowler of Jackson’s pace, and he made full use of the conditions. The Sheffield Club were bowled out for 46, with the young players in the side succumbing to his magnificent bowling which all present agreed was as fine a specimen of cricket as had been played anywhere. A crowd of 4,000 watched the second day’s play, and takings over the three days were £108.9s.11d. The band of the 41st Regiment was also in attendance. The AEE were set 75 to win, and Jackson helped things along with a brisk 17 after being dropped off the first ball. The next game, which was played on 22, 23 and 24 May, brought a win by eight wickets over a XXII of Rossall School. Jackson decimated the