Gustavus William Francis Blake Kelly (2 April 1877 – 16 August 1951)
/ref> was an Irish

cricketer Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

. A right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, the ...

and a right-arm fast bowler, he played 18 times for the

Ireland cricket team The Ireland cricket team represents all of Ireland in international cricket. The Irish Cricket Union, operating under the brand Cricket Ireland is the sport's governing body in Ireland, and organises the international team. Ireland participa ...

between 1895 and 1914CricketEurope Stats Zone profile
/ref> including nine first-class matches. He also played first-class

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

for

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and the MCC.First-class matches played by Gus Kelly
at CricketArchive

Early life

Born in Dublin, he first attended

Clongowes Wood College Clongowes Wood College SJ is a voluntary boarding school for boys near Clane, County Kildare, Ireland, founded by the Jesuits in 1814, which features prominently in James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Yo ...

, then a centre of excellence for cricket before boarding at

the Oratory School The Oratory School () is an HMC Co-educational Independent school (United Kingdom), independent Roman Catholic day and boarding school for pupils aged 11–18 located in Woodcote, north-west of Reading, Berkshire, Reading. Founded in 1859 by S ...

, near Reading, Berkshire, where he was a key member of the Oratory XI. He lastly spent a short time at

Stonyhurst College Stonyhurst College is a co-educational Catholic Church, Roman Catholic independent school, adhering to the Society of Jesus, Jesuit tradition, on the Stonyhurst, Stonyhurst Estate, Lancashire, England. It occupies a Grade I listed building. Th ...

, Lancashire, before going up to

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, situated on Turl Street in central Oxford. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, the ...

Playing career

Kelly made his debut for Ireland against

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

in August 1895. He played twice more for Ireland that month, including a match against the MCC at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

, but it would be six years before he again featured in high-level cricket. He made his first-class debut playing for Oxford University against Surrey in May 1901. He played for the university against

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

the following month, before returning to the Ireland side to play against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. He played four more first-class matches for Oxford University that year, gaining his

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...

when he played against

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in July. He played ten first-class matches for Oxford University in 1902, including a matches against his native Ireland and the touring Australian team, and returned to the Ireland team for a match against London County in June 1903. He played three more times for Ireland before he made his first-class debut for them against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

in May 1907. He also played for Ireland against South Africa that year. His appearances for Ireland were sporadic over the rest of his career, playing against

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

(twice) and Yorkshire in 1908, against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in 1910 and 1911 before he played a first-class match for the MCC against Oxford University in June 1912. He played for Ireland against South Africa that year, and played twice more against Scotland before his career came to an end in July 1914.

Statistics

In all matches for Ireland, Kelly scored 204 runs at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

of 8.87 with a top score of 30 against South Africa in June 1901. He took 41

wickets In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out. * ...

at an

of 17.12, with a best

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is bot ...

bowling performance of 5/42 against Scotland in July 1910, the only time he took five wickets in an innings for Ireland.

Personal life

In 1900, he married Eily Mary Comyn, whose brother

Dan Comyn Andrew Daniel Comyn (23 September 1872 – 23 May 1949) was an Irish cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and a leg-break bowler. He played for Ireland 16 times between 1893 and 1904, making his debut against a Combined Services team. Four ...

was a splendid opening bat for Dublin University, Phoenix and Ireland. Two of their sons, Acheson and Gustavus, both played for Ireland. He served as High Sheriff of Roscommon in 1920.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Gustavus 1877 births 1951 deaths Cricketers from Dublin (city) Irish cricketers Oxford University cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers People educated at Clongowes Wood College People educated at The Oratory School Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford High Sheriffs of Roscommon