Lives in Cricket No 43 - John Jackson

63 The England Eleven in Australia and New Zealand 1863/64 a man named Easton, who batted for more than two hours for 3 runs, a feat of stonewalling to rank with the very best. After this match Jackson and Grace played a single wicket match against a Castlemaine XI. Grace scored 13, Jackson 0, with one extra, after which Jackson dismissed all eleven locals for 2 runs between them, bowling nine and causing the other two to hit their own wickets. The next match was the sole first-class match played on the tour, and it involved a side of six English players captained by George Parr plus five local men, against a side captained by George Anderson of similar make- up. Jackson played in Anderson’s team which won by four wickets with Tom Lockyer playing the decisive innings, scoring 44 and 40*. Parr’s side made 153 and 129, Jackson taking three for 77 in the match. Anderson’s side scored 168 and 115 for six. This match was played at Melbourne between 6 and 9 March after which the team sailed to Sydney on the steamship Alexandra , arriving there on 14 March. The first match in New South Wales was played at Domain against XXII of New South Wales on 16, 17 and 18 March, although the match actually ended on 24 March as all the days between 18 and 23 were washed out by rain. The Governor of the Colony attended the match which England won by four wickets. Jackson put in a long shift, bowling a total of 68.2 overs in the game to take five for 15 and nine for 20, with Haygarth noting once again that different versions of the individual scores and dismissals existed in other publications. The second match at Domain on 26, 28 and 29 March was also seriously interrupted by rain with only one innings a side being finished. New South Wales made 102 and 3 for one wicket, with England scoring 114. Jackson took five for 25 in 30 overs. The third game against New South Wales was much closer, with England only winning by one wicket. It was a low- scoring match with the locals making 68 (Jackson seven for 21 in 47 overs) and 83 (Jackson nought for 9). England scores were 75 and 77 for nine. Tarrant had taken six wickets for no runs in 8.3 overs in the New South Wales first innings. The team next played XXII of Geelong and the match should have started on 11 April, but was reduced to a two day affair owing to the late arrival of the tourists. The game was drawn with Jackson taking six wickets. An additional match between Elevens, again led by Anderson and Parr, was played on 14 and 15 April at Maryborough and was won by Anderson’s side by 56 runs. Jackson played in Parr’s team, taking three for 68 in 47.2 overs. He also made the highest score in the match, scoring 45 as an opener in Parr’s side’s first innings. The team met XXII of Ballarat on 18, 19 and 20 April where Carpenter hit the only hundred of the tour, scoring 121 in nine hours, while Parr scored 65 in a total of 310. Ballarat scored 128 (Jackson six for 15 in 24 overs) and were 48 for fifteen wickets (Jackson two for 6 in 12 overs) when time was called. Tinley’s lobs had accounted for seventeen wickets in this game. It must be mentioned that the English fast bowlers, Jackson and Tarrant, were storing up a lot of grief for England whilst in New South Wales. An