Les Jackson (cricketer)

Les Jackson (5 April 1921 – 25 April 2007) was an English cricketer. A fast or fast-medium bowler renowned for his accurate bowling and particular hostility on uncovered wickets, he played county cricket for Derbyshire from 1947 to 1963, and was regularly at, or near the top of, the English bowling averages. He played in only two Test matches for England, one in 1949 and a second in 1961. Jackson’s absence from Test cricket was largely because his batting was so underdeveloped: his highest first-class score was 39 not out, and he reached 30 on only two other occasions. Between July 1949 and August 1950, Jackson indeed played fifty-one innings without reaching double figures, a number known to be exceeded only by Jem Shaw, Nobby Clark, Eric Hollies (twice), Brian Boshier and Mark Robinson. His leading competitors like Trueman, Tyson, and even teammate Gladwin were far better batsmen.

Cricket writer, Colin Bateman, noted, “it is one of cricket’s great crimes that Les Jackson, a most respected fast bowler on the circuit throughout the 1950s, played only twice for England. It is said that his slingy, hostile action and his blunt opinions did not please the MCC but in an era when Alec Bedser carried England‘s attack on his own, Jackson’s omission was a scandalous loss”. Bateman added that Jackson, "...was as feared as Truemen and Tyson in county cricket".

Herbert Leslie Jackson was born in the mining village of Whitwell in Derbyshire, the youngest of thirteen children. His eldest brother had been killed in World War I; another brother was one of eighty who perished in the Creswell colliery disaster in 1950.