An orthodox batsman with a penchant for forcing strokes in front of square on both sides of the wicket he was regarded as a very sound player of fast bowling. His own bowling was a brisk fast medium, with a good off cutter his main weapon. While his commitments outside of cricket limited the number of games he played he was a key member of the very strong Yorkshire sides who won 6 county championships during his career (although this did include 1901 when Jackson did not appear in the county championship). His performances in 1896 and 1898 in particular showed what his statistics could have been if he had been able to dedicate more time, scoring over 1,000 championship runs at better than 40.00 in each season and taking over 100 wickets across the two seasons at an average of under 20.