John 'Foghorn' Jackson — 8 for 20 for North v South, 1857

Roundarm bowling — the hand at or below shoulder height — had been legal since 1835. By the mid-1850s the leading fast bowlers were straining the law to its limit, and Jackson was the fastest of them. North v South in 1857 was the showcase fixture in which his reputation was settled.

Jackson had impressed in his first two seasons with Nottinghamshire (1855-56) and had been picked for the All-England Eleven by 1857. The North v South match of that year was his coming-out moment in front of the leading southern professionals.

John Jackson was born at Bungay in Suffolk on 21 May 1833 and brought up in Nottinghamshire. He bowled fast roundarm — within the law of the day — with a high action that bordered on the illegal and the strength to bowl long spells on rough pitches. He played for Nottinghamshire from 1855 and joined the All-England Eleven shortly afterwards. His match-winning analysis of 8-20 for North v South in 1857 was the public confirmation of his standing; from that summer until his career-ending injury in 1866 he was the most feared fast bowler in England, regarded by most contemporaries as without serious rival. The 'Foghorn' nickname came from his curious habit of blowing his nose loudly whenever he took a wicket — an idiosyncrasy described by Richard Daft and turned into the first cricket caricature ever to appear in Punch magazine. Jackson's career returns of 655 wickets at 11.52 are among the best of the roundarm era. He was a member of George Parr's North America tour in 1859 and of Parr's Australia and New Zealand tour in 1863-64. His career was effectively ended in 1866 when he ruptured a blood vessel in his leg playing for Notts against Yorkshire; he never bowled at the top level again, and ended his life in November 1901 in extreme poverty at Brownlow Hill workhouse, Liverpool.

“Jackson had a peculiar habit of blowing his nose with a loud report whenever he took a wicket, and was called 'Foghorn' on this account.”

Jackson dominated through the late 1850s and early 1860s, taking wickets at the top of every fixture list. His career was cut short by injury at 33; his decline was precipitous. The pattern of professional poverty in old age that Jackson exemplified became a major theme of late-Victorian cricket and a recurring subject in Wisden obituaries.