page_title: Archie Jackson
section_title: Ashes tour of England
hierarchical_section_title: Archie Jackson / Test cricket / Ashes tour of England
caption_attribution_description: Archie Jackson, Australian cricketer
context_page_description: Archibald Jackson, occasionally known as Archibald Alexander Jackson, was an Australian international cricketer who played eight Test matches as a specialist batsman between 1929 and 1931. A teenage prodigy, he played first grade cricket at only 15 years of age and was selected for New South Wales at 17. In 1929, aged 19, Jackson made his Test debut against England, scoring 164 runs in the first innings to become the youngest player to score a Test century.
  Renowned for his elegant batting style, he played in a manner similar to the great Australian batsmen Victor Trumper, and Alan Kippax, Jackson's friend and mentor. His Test and first-class career coincided with the early playing years of Don Bradman, with whom he was often compared. Before the two departed for England as part of the 1930 Australian team, some observers considered Jackson the better batsman, capable of opening the batting or coming in down the order. Jackson's career was dogged by poor health; illness and his unfamiliarity with local conditions hampered his tour of England, only playing two of the five Test matches.
context_section_description: Jackson was included in the Australian squad to tour England in 1930. The bonus for Australia from England's 1928–29 visit was the emergence of Jackson and Don Bradman and now much was expected of them in a rebuilt Australian squad that retained only four players from the 1926 tour of England. But Jackson was frequently ill and his unfamiliarity with English pitches resulted in patchy form. Even so, he was described at the time by former England player Cecil Parkin as, "a better bat than Bradman". He was left out of the team for the First Test at Trent Bridge, the only defeat suffered by the Australians all tour. After the Second Test at Lord's, Jackson recovered some form. Ponsford and Fairfax both fell ill and as a result Jackson was included in the team for the Third Test at Leeds. He scored one run in his only innings while Bradman made a then-record Test score of 334. Jackson was omitted for the Fourth Test, but a century against Somerset helped him to force his way back into the side for the Fifth and deciding Test at The Oval.
  In this match Jackson, batting down the order, played a brave innings on a dangerous wicket facing hostile bowling from Larwood. He took repeated blows on the body while scoring a valuable 73 runs. He shared a stand of 243 with Bradman, who scored 232, and Australia won the Test by an innings and 39 runs to regain The Ashes. Overall, Jackson's tour was modest, scoring 1,097 runs at an average of 34.28 with only one hundred, made against Somerset. Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, in its report on the 1930 Australians, described Jackson as the "... great disappointment of the team ... with [his] well-deserved reputation for grace of style ... at no time did people in England see the real Jackson."
  On return to Australia for the 1930–31 season, Jackson was selected for the first four Tests against the West Indies. After scoring 70 not out in the First Test in Adelaide, his form tapered away and managed only 124 runs at an average of 31.00 for the first four Tests, resulting in his omission for the Fifth and final Test in Sydney. In Jackson's absence, the West Indies defeated Australia for the first time in a Test. The West Indies captain Jackie Grant, in a daring move, declared his team's innings closed twice in order to catch the home team on a "sticky wicket". Jackson, in his capacity as twelfth man, came in as a runner for an injured batsman on the final afternoon, making what was to be his final appearance in first-class cricket.
  It was during this Australian season, during a match in Brisbane, that Jackson was introduced to Phyllis Thomas, a trained ballet dancer, who later became his fiancée. In March 1931, Jackson felt his health had recovered sufficiently to join an exhibition tour of Far North Queensland, led by Alan Kippax. He found the tour exhausting, with arduous travel and damp weather, but played well enough to top the aggregate with over 1,100 runs at an average of 93.00. In a letter to his childhood friend and New South Wales teammate, Bill Hunt, he wrote, "Our tour of North Queensland has now concluded and thank goodness! ... I would never make this trip again unless I was guaranteed £100, and that's not enough!"
caption: Jackson (r) going out to bat with Bill Woodfull
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