John Dixon

Who was John Dixon?

John Auger Dixon was an English sportsman who captained Nottinghamshire at first-class cricket and represented the England national football team.

Dixon was a member of the Nottinghamshire which dominated county cricket from 1882 to 1886. He had his best year with the bat in 1897 when he made 1100 runs at 44.00, the only time he would pass 1000 runs in a season. Amongst those runs was his highest first-class score of 268 not out, which he made opening the batting against Sussex at Trent Bridge. Dixon declared once he had passed Arthur Shrewsbury's Nottinghamshire record of 267 with the team score at 448/7 and they won by an innings.

A right-hander, he was captain of Nottinghamshire when they shared the Championship in 1889 with Surrey and Lancashire. The following season he captained his county to an innings and 26 runs win over the touring Australians and in the same season he also put in a memorable all-round performances against Leicestershire when he scored an unbeaten 126 and took nine wickets for the match. He remained captain until 1899. Dixon was also a useful part-time medium pacer and in 1900 took a career best season tally of 37 wickets at 23.89