Lives in Cricket No 43 - John Jackson

54 At the Height of His Powers knocked over the first five local men for no runs, just five of the 24 ducks recorded by Batley players in their two innings. The AEE won the match by 62 runs with Jackson finishing nine for 23 and four for 19 after bowling 26 overs in each innings. He did not bowl at all against Sheffield Collegiate at Bramall Lane On 25 September the AEE played a XXII of Scarborough, losing by 39 runs. One of the club’s given professional bowlers, W.Slinn, took all ten wickets in one AEE innings for 23 and sixteen for 42 in the match. Jackson took twenty of the Scarborough wickets (nine for 16 and eleven for 15) in a total of 75 overs, but it was low scoring by the AEE batsmen that cost them the game. They made only 47 and 32 despite Scarborough being bowled out for 23 in their second innings – there were 13 ducks and the highest score was made by a given man, E.Stephenson, with 13. The AEE beat XXII of Harrogate by an innings and 65 runs in a match starting on 29 September – there was no talk of having to play too much cricket in those days! Jackson took twenty-two wickets for 44 runs in the match in 56 overs. The side’s last match was at the Royal Park Ground, Woodhouse, near Leeds, where Jackson took twenty wickets for 27, bowling another 62 overs in the process. The AEE won by seven wickets and on 4 October could finally have a break from cricket and travelling. Jackson took part in ten first-class games in 1863. He proved his growing batting ability by hitting a century for Nottinghamshire against Kent at Cranbrook. He bowled 470.3 overs and took 58 wickets at an average of 11.48. His best figures were the seven for 48 he took for the AEE against the UAEE and he also took twelve wickets for 43 for Nottinghamshire against Kent in the same match in which he scored 100, a match-winning all-round performance if ever there was one. Jackson did not play in the Players v Gentlemen match at The Oval. Indeed, only T.Hearne and E.Willsher appeared for the Players in both the Lord’s and Oval matches. In the Lord’s match which began on 29 June, the professionals completed their usual win over the amateurs, beating them by eight wickets. Hayward made a fine 112* in the Players’ 231 all out after which Jackson and Tarrant got amongst the Gentlemen’s batting and bowled them out for 119 and 126. Jackson bowled 50 overs in the match, taking four for 34 and five for 41. Tarrant took five for 67 and three for 54, with the pair bowling throughout both innings apart from a token contribution of six overs from G.Wootton. The Hon. C.G.Lyttleton, who top-scored with 29 in the Gentlemen’s first innings, considered that Jackson was the best fast bowler of his time The Players got the nine runs they needed to win for the loss of two wickets. The match between the AEE and the UAEE began at Lord’s on 25 May on a fiery wicket and resulted in a grim struggle with the bowlers always on top. The ground was parched and totally unprepared after a drought, a new pitch having to be cut after the match umpires deemed that no play was possible on the one originally selected. Amongst its various defects it had a large hole immediately in front of it. The start was