Alexander Stuart Kennedy (24 January 1891 – 15 November 1959) was a Scottish professional cricketer who played in five Test matches for England and had an extensive domestic career with Hampshire in English county cricket, spanning 29 years. Born in Scotland but raised in England, Kennedy made his debut in first-class cricket for Hampshire in 1907. An all-rounder, he formed a potent bowling partnership with fellow all-rounder Jack Newman that spanned 20 years, with the pair sometimes bowling unchanged throughout both innings of a match. A right-handed batsman and right-arm medium pace bowler, Kennedy developed into one of the most durable and consistent all-rounders in county cricket. As a bowler he was known for his accuracy, and his abilities to bowl inswingers and to turn the ball.
After emerging as an all-rounder following the First World War, Kennedy played five Test matches for England on the Marylebone Cricket Club's 1922–23 tour of South Africa. He was chosen as one of five Wisden Cricketers of the Year for 1934. In 677 first-class matches, he took 2,874 wickets, including 225 five wicket hauls. His career total is the seventh highest in first-class cricket, with his 2,549 wickets for Hampshire second only to Derek Shackleton's 2,669. As a batsman, he scored 16,586 runs making ten centuries. Having started out as a tailend batsman, Kennedy's batting improved as his career progressed that by the early 1920s, he was entrusted with opening the batting.
Following his retirement, Kennedy coached cricket at Cheltenham College and later in South Africa from 1947 to 1954. He died on 15 November 1959, having been unwell for several months.
Early life Alexander Stuart Kennedy was born in Edinburgh on 24 January 1891. His family left Scotland when he was a young boy, moving south to England where they settled in Southampton. He took an interest in cricket as a child and would bowl in the nets at the County Ground in Southampton. Upon leaving school at the age of 14, he joined the groundstaff at Hampshire alongside Alex Bowell, George Brown, Walter Livsey, Phil Mead, and Jack Newman; together, they formed the first major intake of professional cricketers at Hampshire. Over the following two years, Kennedy would play country house cricket in and around Southampton, most notably for the Brockenhurst Park Estate in the New Forest. During this time, he would be coached by Charlie Llewellyn, learning the bowling skills of flight and length by aiming to pitch the ball on a piece of paper in the nets.
Cricket career Pre-war career At the age of 16, Kennedy made his debut in first-class cricket for Hampshire as a right-arm medium pace bowler against Leicestershire at Aylestone Road in the 1907 County Championship, taking figures of 4 wickets for 33 rusn in Leicestershire's first innings. He made a second appearance that season, against Warwickshire. He played four first-class matches in the 1908 season, claiming his maiden five wicket haul (6 for 41) against the touring Gentlemen of Philadelphia. Kennedy gained a regular place in the Hampshire the following season, making 15 appearances and establishing his bowling partnership with Jack Newman, which was to span two decades and form the backbone of the Hampshire attack. He took 31 wickets in 1909, averaging 21.96 runs per wicket. He made 20 appearances in 1910, taking 31 wickets for the second successive season. In 1911, he bowled nearly twice as many overs as he had in 1910, taking 51 wickets at a bowling average of 30.70 from 23 matches. He claimed five or more wickets in an innings on five occasions. It was during this season that his credentials as an all-rounder began to come to the fore, with Kennedy scoring his first half-century (62 runs) and scoring 545 runs at a batting average of 18.46.
The following season, Kennedy took a hundred wickets in a season for the first time. In 28 appearances, he took 139 wickets, averaging 17.60; he took five wickets or more in an innings on 15 occasions and ten wickets in a match on four. His best innings figures during the season of 7 for 29 came against Surrey in bowler friendly conditions at Bournemouth, whilst against the touring Australians he took 11 wickets in the match, having taken 6 for 90 in their first innings and 5 for 91 in their second. He ended the season as the third leading wicket-taker in the 1912 County Championship, behind Colin Blythe, and George Dennett. At the start of the 1913 season, Kennedy was taken ill with appendicitis, which required an operation. It was expected that this would keep out of the team until July, however, he had returned to the team by June. Despite missing the early part of the season, Kennedy still managed to take 82 wickets, averaging 23.21 from 20 appearances. He had a prolific season in 1914, which was truncated in August by the outbreak of the First World War, taking 162 wickets at an average of 20.01 from 31 appearances; he took five or more wickets in an innings ten times. He ended the season as the second leading wicket-taker in the County Championship, behind Blythe. Against Somerset, he and Arthur Jaques bowled unchanged in the match to dismiss Somerset for scores of 83 and 38. In July, he made his first appearance for the Players in the Gentlemen versus Players fixture.
War service and all-round success With the outbreak of war, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) President Francis Lacey confirmed the cessation of cricket during the war, and first-class cricket in England remained suspended until 1919. Kennedy enlisted in the war with the 5th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment, alongside peers from Hampshire. His first match following the cessation of hostilities was for L. G. Robinson's personal team against the Australian Imperial Forces in May 1919, with Kennedy subsequently making two appearances for the MCC at Lord's against Yorkshire and the Australian Imperial Forces. In the 1919 County Championship he led Hampshire's bowling aggregates with 80 wickets, averaging 25.70, single-handedly leading the Hampshire attack in the absence of Newman, who spent 1919 waiting to be demobilised from the army. Against Surrey at The Oval in June, he took 7 for 47, helping to inflict one of only three home defeats for Surrey between the end of the war and 1927. In 25 first-class matches in 1919, he scored 452 runs and made three half-centuries. In addition to his appearances for Hampshire and the MCC, he played three times for the Players in the Players versus Gentlemen fixtures of 1919, and appeared for The Rest at The Oval in the season ending Champion County fixture against Yorkshire. During the winter that followed the 1919 season, Kennedy travelled to British India, where he coached Prince Yashwant Rao Holkar at Indore.
In the 1920 season, Kennedy took 160 wickets from 29 appearances, averaging 18.30; he took five wickets or more in an innings on 16 occasions and ten or more in a match on four. For Hampshire in the 1920 County Championship, he took 164 wickets and was the Championship's joint-leading wicket-taker alongside Frank Woolley. His best innings figures that season, 9 for 33, came in the Championship against Lancashire at Liverpool, which Hampshire lost by one run. He took two hat-tricks (taking three wickets in three balls) during the season, against Gloucestershire and Somerset. He played for the MCC and the Players during 1920, in addition to appearing for Charles Thornton's personal team at the season-ending Scarborough Festival.
Kennedy emerged as a leading all-rounder in 1921, with his batting improving markedly. He completed the all-rounders double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets for the first time. In 33 first-class appearances during the season, he took 186 wickets averaging 21.55, taking five or more wickets in an innings on 16 occasions and ten or more in a match four times. His best innings figures, 8 for 11, came against Glamorgan. Kennedy and Newman led the Hampshire attack in 1921, bowling between them 14,792 deliveries and taking 340 wickets. Against Sussex at Portsmouth, Kennedy and Newman bowled unchanged throughout the match; such was their dominance that the pair were the top two bowlers in the 1921 County Championship, with Newman taking 172 wickets and Kennedy taking 168. In 1921, he scored 1,305 runs, averaging 26.10; he scored two centuries in July, making scores of 152 not out against Nottinghamshire and 114 against Worcestershire.
Achieving consecutive doubles, the 1922 season was to be a record-breaking one for Kennedy. He took 205 wickets, averaging 16.80 from 34 matches, and taking five or more wickets in an innings on 20 occasions and ten or more in a match on seven. In the 1922 County Championship, he took 177 wickets, finishing third nationally behind Charlie Parker (195) and Tich Freeman (194); his 190 first-class wickets for Hampshire remain the most wickets taken in a season for the county. One of his most notable performances came against Somerset at Bath in the County Championship, when he took match figures of 15 wickets for 116 runs. In another notable performance, he took figures of 7 for 71 and made a half-century (70 runs) in a 10 run defeat by Sussex at Southampton. He was a member of the team that played against Warwickshire in June, where Hampshire were dismissed for 15 runs in their first innings, but subsequently went on to win the match by 155 runs, having been forced to follow-on 228 runs behind; Kennedy was one of eight batsmen to be dismissed for zero in the first innings. He combined with Newman in Warwickshire's second innings to bowl Hampshire to victory. Lamenting Hampshire's first innings collapse, Kennedy commented "Every batsman, no matter how good he is, gets a good 'un, some time or other, immediately he gets in - and out he comes. Well, this happened to all of us in one innings." His 200th wicket came at the season-ending Scarborough Festival, and in taking over 200 wickets and scoring over a thousand runs in the season, he achieved a unique double only matched by George Hirst, Maurice Tate, and Albert Trott.
Test selection Kennedy's form in 1922 led to him being selected for the MCC's winter tour of South Africa, led by Frank Mann. He had been due to coach in Cape Town during the winter, but with his selection to the touring party his coaching engagement passed to Newman. Kennedy featured in the five first-class tour matches against South African provincial sides that preceded the Test series, before making his Test debut for England against South Africa at Johannesburg on 23 December. He played in all five Test's on the tour, ending the series as England's leading wicket-taker with 31 at an average of 19.32. He was instrumental in England's success during the 5th Test, taking figures of 5 for 76 from nearly 50 overs to help bowl England to victory by 109 runs. Earlier in the series, he had taken 5 for 88 in the 3rd Test at Durban. The cricket journalist Simon Wilde later wrote that his contributions across the series with the ball "were crucial to England's series win". Across the entirety of the tour, Kennedy took 61 wickets in the first-class matches played on the tour (inclusive of the Tests), averaging 16.78. His aggregate placed him three wickets ahead of Percy Fender.