Captaining England for the first time in 1905, Stanley Jackson won all five tosses against Joe Darling, topped both batting and bowling averages on either side (492 runs at 70.28; 13 wickets at 15.46), and led England to a 2-0 series win to retain the Ashes. He retired from Test cricket immediately afterwards, never having toured Australia.
Jackson was an exact contemporary of Darling at Cambridge — they had become friends at Adelaide in 1894-95. He had played 15 Tests before 1905 with a batting average of 48 but had never captained. The Ashes series of 1905 was his last chance: at 35 he was approaching the end and had told friends he would stand down from international cricket whatever the outcome.
The Australians of 1905, captained by Darling, included Trumper, Hill, Noble, Armstrong, Duff and the fast bowler Tibby Cotter. They were strong but not as strong as the 1902 side; the absence of Hugh Trumble (retired) was felt.
Jackson took over a team that had drawn 1-1 in the 1902-03 South Africa Tests and beaten Australia 3-2 in 1903-04. Confidence in English cricket was high. The selection committee — a recent invention — gave Jackson a relatively free hand.
Stanley Jackson, the Yorkshire amateur known to readers of the Wisden almanack as 'F.S. Jackson' or simply 'Jacker', had been a Test cricketer since 1893 but had never previously captained the side. By 1905 he was 35, a Conservative MP, and one of the senior figures in English cricket. He was appointed for the home Ashes series ahead of Archie MacLaren and Plum Warner, both of whom had previously led.
What followed was one of the most personally complete captaincy seasons on record. Jackson won the toss in all five Tests — beating his university friend Joe Darling each time. England won the second Test at Lord's by 282 runs, drew the rest, and won the series 2-0 to retain the Ashes. Jackson scored 492 runs in the five matches at 70.28 — top of the averages on either side — and took 13 wickets at 15.46, also top of both sides' bowling averages.
His individual scores included 144 not out at Headingley, 113 at Old Trafford, 82 not out at Trent Bridge, and 76 and 31 at The Oval. The 144 not out remains one of the most highly regarded of all Headingley innings, played on a difficult surface against an Australian attack of Cotter, Armstrong, Noble and Laver. Jackson never played another Test after the 1905 series; he could not spare the time to tour, and his political career took precedence.
Jackson wins toss at Trent Bridge; England draw the first Test.
Jackson wins toss at Lord's; England win by 282 runs.
Jackson 144* at Headingley, third toss won, draw.
Jackson 113 at Old Trafford, fourth toss won, draw.
Jackson wins fifth toss at The Oval; match drawn, series 2-0.
Jackson tops both batting (70.28) and bowling (15.46) averages on each side.
Jackson retires from Test cricket immediately after the series.
May 1905
Jackson appointed England captain.
29 May 1905
1st Test, Trent Bridge — drawn; Jackson wins toss.
15 June 1905
2nd Test, Lord's — England win by 282 runs.
3 July 1905
3rd Test, Headingley — drawn; Jackson 144*.
24 July 1905
4th Test, Old Trafford — drawn; Jackson 113.
14 August 1905
5th Test, The Oval — drawn; series 2-0 to England.
Autumn 1905
Jackson retires from international cricket.
“He topped the batting and bowling averages of both sides.”
Jackson moved into politics full-time, eventually becoming Governor of Bengal (1927-32). He was knighted in 1927 and survived an assassination attempt in 1932 when a Bengali student fired five revolver shots at him in Calcutta — none hit. He died in 1947, aged 76.
The 1905 series was widely regarded as the high-water mark of English Test cricket between Bobby Abel's retirement and the rise of Jack Hobbs. Australia would not regain the Ashes until 1907-08.
A captain's series in the most literal sense — the toss, the batting, the bowling, the result, all in one direction. Jackson's place among the great English captains was set and never seriously disturbed; Wisden's century-end review (in 1900) had already named him among the 'Cricketers of the Century' before this series began.
Jackson is one of only a handful of captains to win every toss in a five-Test series. His 'all five' record has since been equalled (most famously by Mike Brearley in the 1979 Australia series), but the combined feat of all five tosses, top of both sides' averages in both disciplines, and a series win has never been repeated.
He remains one of the few major Test cricketers never to have toured. Wisden's 1908 Cricketer of the Year piece on Jackson noted the 'completeness of his cricket' — a phrase that has stuck.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.