Tom Kendall facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
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-handed
Bowling	Left-arm medium
International information
National side	Australia
Test debut (cap 9)	15 March 1877 v England
Last Test	31 March 1877 v England
Career statistics
Competition Test 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

Thomas Kingston Kendall (born August 24, 1851 – died August 17, 1924) was an Australian cricket player. He is famous for playing in the very first Test match ever. This historic game took place in March 1877 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia.

Kendall was a left-handed batsman who usually batted lower down the order. He was also a left-arm bowler, meaning he bowled with his left arm. His bowling style was slow to medium speed.

Tom Kendall's Cricket Career

Tom Kendall played in two Test matches during his career. Both of these were against the England team in 1877. He showed great skill by taking 14 wickets in these two games. A "wicket" in cricket is when a bowler gets a batsman out.

The First Test Match

The first Test match in history was played between Australia and England. Tom Kendall played a very important role in this game. He took 7 wickets for only 55 runs in the last part of the match. This helped Australia win the game by 45 runs.

Kendall's bowling also led to the first-ever "stumping" in Test match history. A stumping happens when the wicketkeeper (the player behind the stumps) knocks the bails off the stumps with the ball while the batsman is out of their batting area. Kendall bowled to Alfred Shaw, and Jack Blackham, the wicketkeeper, completed the stumping.

Both Tom Kendall and Alfred Shaw took eight wickets in that first Test match. Kendall continued to do well in the second Test. His total of 14 Test wickets was a record for a while. Later, another player named Fred Spofforth broke his record.

Life After Early Cricket

After the 1877 Test matches, Tom Kendall was not chosen for the Australian team that toured England in 1878. It's not clear why, as he was available to play. Some people thought he might have gained too much weight, which could have affected his chances.

Kendall played club cricket in Melbourne for a team called Richmond. He also played one game for the Victoria state team. In 1881, he moved to Hobart, a city in Tasmania, Australia. There, he worked for a newspaper called The Mercury.

At that time, Tasmania did not have regular "first-class cricket" games. First-class cricket is a high level of the sport, just below Test matches. Because of this, Kendall's cricket career became less active. He played only a few more matches. These included four games during a tour to New Zealand in 1884 and one game against Victoria in 1889. Later in his life, Tom Kendall became an umpire in Tasmanian cricket games. An umpire is like a referee in other sports.

Cricket Records

Tom Kendall held a special record in Test cricket for a short time.