The many layers of Laura Jackson

For Laura Jackson, a simple comment changed the trajectory of her career.

In 2020, she was on the fringes of the Thunder XI, appearing in three out of six matches and contributing two wickets and 23 runs. A slow-medium pacer, she was economical but rarely troubled batters.

But during a winter training session, a coach queried why she didn't run in to bowl. The 24-year-old allrounder had no answer, and since then, she's charged into the crease as fast as she can, put more hours in at the gym, and transformed herself into an aggressive swing bowler.

The results weren't immediate - she spent the first three matches of the last season on drinks duty - but when her opportunity came, she grasped it with both hands, scoring 30 runs and picking up 3 for 35 against Central Sparks in mid-June.

From that point on, she was ever-present for Thunder, finishing the season with 89 runs and five wickets. Her performances earned her a deal with Manchester Originals in The Hundred, Thunder's breakthrough player of the year gong, and, in November of last year, a professional contract.

It's little wonder, therefore, that she describes 2021 as "the best year of my career and my life." But when pressed to select just one standout moment, she doesn't hesitate.

"The wicket at The Oval [in The Hundred]," she tells The Cricketer. "I was the last one to be picked in the squad, so I didn't think I'd be starting the first game, and when I took that wicket, I couldn't feel my legs. The whole team was so happy for me because they knew I was nervous."

^{Laura Jackson bowling during The Hundred [Ian Kington/Getty Images]}

But it is the aftermath, not the wicket itself, which holds a special place in her heart and it all hinges on a tiny detail which most elite athletes probably take for granted.

"I've got the picture where Crossy [Kate Cross] ran over and hugged me," she continues. "It's one of my favourite pictures because you can see the crowd in the background. In my other pictures from when I've played, you can't see that."

In front of 7,395 fans at the Oval and a further 1.95million up and down the country, Jackson was living her dream. Not a bad stage for a player, a non-professional at the time, who stumbled into the sport completely by chance.

Unlike many of her teammates, Jackson did not have a family connection to cricket. In her household, badminton was the dominant sport, and she was a talented junior player, competing at county level alongside future Lancashire and Thunder teammate Emma Lamb, until a schoolfriend lured her to Halsall CC with the promise of an escape from her Friday-night gym session and a barbecue.

It was love at first sight and Jackson quickly traded her court shoes for spikes. County trials followed and despite missing out at under-14s, she persevered and made the cut 12 months later.

But despite her obvious talent, Jackson, like generations of female cricketers before her, didn't see cricket as anything more than a hobby. In fact, she had a very different plan for her future until the first wave of professional contracts, awarded in 2020, suddenly made her sport a viable career option.

"It's one of my favourite pictures because you can see the crowd in the background. In my other pictures from when I've played, you can't see that"

"I'd always wanted to be in the police, maybe be a crime scene investigator – they look great," she reveals. "I think my characteristics suit the police. I'm a stickler for the rules and I like being fit – the thought of having to pass a fitness test to get in, I like that.

"I didn't go to university. I ended up going to Australia for four seasons and I thought, as soon as I'm done in Australia, I'll start in the police. I suppose it was a blessing in disguise but there wasn't anything available, so I signed up for the jobs email – I still get them to this day - and then the first five contracts were awarded.

"That lit a fire under my bottom to keep training harder and thinking about it, I realised the police wasn't going to be very good [with cricket] with the shift work."

Having earned a spot in the Thunder squad in 2020, Jackson balanced her cricketing commitments with working at her family's packaging consultancy firm. She considers herself lucky in that regard because in working for her dad, she was afforded the kind of shift flexibility that was unavailable to many of her teammates. But that didn't mean she could slack off.

Hopefully the snow will stay away for the weekend 🤞🏽 https://t.co/850JfQasUL

— Laura Jackson (@laurajacko22) February 24, 2022

"If my cricket times changed, I could just tell my dad I'd make up the hours, but I did have to do the work. If I wasn't at cricket, I was in the office or in the warehouse and that put a lot of strain on my body. I couldn't have all of my attention on cricket, which is where I wanted it to be, or recovery days. It was hard," Jackson says.

It's quite fitting, therefore, that she was on shift at the job she one day hoped to find surplus to requirements when David Thorley, Thunder's regional director of women's cricket, phoned with life-changing news.

"All hell broke loose at work; it was a really bad day, and I was pulling my hair out," Jackson recalls. "Then I got the phone call and my jaw just dropped.

"I ran outside to my dad, who was dealing with some of our drivers, and said, 'I'm really sorry because this probably isn't the best time to tell you, but I've just been offered a professional contract.' And he picked me up, spun me round with tears in his eyes – I'd never really seen my dad cry before – and he just said, 'No, this is perfect timing'."

But alongside the jubilation was a sadness that one key person, her mum, Lynn, was missing from the celebrations.

A tight-knit family unit, with Laura an only child, Jackson credits her parents with having a key role in her success, not only spending hours on the road driving her to and from training and matches but also offering endless support for her dream.

"Mum has been in hospital since I got my contract, which is the best thing that's happened in my career, and I've not been able to share it with her"

Her mum was her rock but three years ago, at the age of 51, she was diagnosed with sarcoidosis of the heart, a rare strain of the inflammatory condition which affects only 1 in 50 patients.

It is unknown what causes the illness and at present, there is no cure. And, to make matters worse, Jackson's mum is allergic to the medication typically used to manage the condition.

"She's been in hospital for the past six months now, the side effects [of the medication] are making her deteriorate, and I feel a bit helpless," Jackson says. "It was always me, my mum and my dad as a team, and I wouldn't be where I am today without them.

"She was my emotional support, but she can't do that at the minute; she might be with it one day and then not the next. It is quite difficult because she's always been there for me and with my dad, she's my no.1 fan. She's been in hospital since I got my contract, which is the best thing that's happened in my career, and I've not been able to share it with her."

Cricket is helping Jackson to navigate her mum's illness. Training has become her "happy place" and she's been overwhelmed by the unwavering support of her teammates and coaches, especially when it comes to her upcoming charity endeavour.

^{Jackson (centre) celebrates a wicket for Lancashire against Ireland at Old Trafford. She finished the match with figures of 4 for 15 [Jan Kruger/Getty Images]}

On April 3 (snow postponed the original walk on February 27), Jackson, accompanied by a merry band of Thunder teammates, will climb the Old Man of Coniston, the highest point of the historic county of Lancashire, for Sarcoidosis UK. After smashing her initial target of £1,000 inside 24 hours, she's raised over £6,500 which will go towards funding vital research into a possible cure – none of which, she says, would have been possible without her cricket family.

"Sophia [Turner] told me to put it in the [Thunder] group chat and see if anyone else wanted to come," Jackson says, explaining how her teammates became involved. "I thought I'd get five or six people but my phone would not stop buzzing. Pretty much every person was like, 'I want to do it' and if they couldn't join, they'd send support and help me raise awareness. I really felt the love that night."

The six-hour jaunt, which Jackson, ever the stickler, has already recced, will provide a nice break from winter training but once completed, it will be back to grindstone for the allrounder, who has been working tirelessly during the off-season with an ambition of becoming one of Thunder's top performers with bat and ball.

"By putting on those few extra yards, everything changed, so I was a bit out of tune sometimes," she says. "Now I'm in the swing with my stock ball, I need to get my variations firing so I'm more threatening when I bowl. We need someone in the squad to bowl with Crossy and hopefully I can be that person.

"With the bat, I'm not a typical fast bowler-batter, I don't just whack it. I like to hit the gaps, rotate the strike and support the batter at the other end. I've been working on all aspects so I can hit 360 and score in all areas. I aspire to be that allrounder in the team."

For now, however, her goal is to get her teammates up and down the fell in one piece: "I don't think they'll be too happy with me if I injure the whole squad!"