Tom Kendall

Thomas Kingston Kendall (24 August 1851 – 17 August 1924) was an Australian cricketer, who played in two Test matches in 1877, including the inaugural Test which was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in March 1877.

Tom Kendall

Personal information
Born	(1851-08-24)24 August 1851 Bedford, England
Died	17 August 1924(1924-08-17) (aged 72) Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Batting	Left-hand bat
Bowling	Left-arm slow to medium
International information
National side	Australia
Test debut	15 March 1877 v England
Last Test	31 March 1877 v England
Career statistics
Competition Tests First-class Matches 2 8 Runs scored 39 141 Batting average 13.00 12.81 100s/50s 0/0 0/0 Top score 17* 43 Balls bowled 563 2,129 Wickets 14 40 Bowling average 15.35 16.64 5 wickets in innings 1 3 10 wickets in match 0 0 Best bowling 7/55 7/24 Catches/stumpings 2/– 6/–
Source: CricInfo, 12 December 2018

Kendall was a lower-order left-handed batsman and a slow-to-medium pace left-arm bowler. His 14 wickets in the first two Tests show his ability and indeed Kendall's 7/55 in the last innings of the first-ever Test[1] was an important part of the 45-run victory over the England side led by James Lillywhite. It was Kendall's bowling that induced the first Test match stumping, when he dismissed Alfred Shaw, via Jack Blackham's wicketkeeping.[2] Both he and Shaw took eight wickets in the inaugural Test, but as Australia batted first Shaw took his first, but Kendall overtook this in the Second Test and his 14 Test wickets remained a (retrospective) record until passed by Fred Spofforth. These efforts led him to achieve the number 1 ranking in ICC Test Bowler Rankings for the year 1887 (he retained it for the next year). It is not clear why he was omitted from the subsequent Australian team to tour England in 1878, a tour he was available for: he took part in some preliminary matches before the team was selected, although, according to Spofforth, Kendall gained a considerable amount of weight, which may have worked against him.[3]

Kendall played in Melbourne club cricket for Richmond, and represented Victoria once. In 1881, he moved to Hobart where he was employed by The Mercury newspaper. Tasmania did not have regular first-class cricket at that point and his subsequent cricket career was limited to four matches on a tour to New Zealand in 1884 and one against Victoria in 1889. He later stood as an umpire in Tasmanian cricket.