Thomas Joseph Dart Kelly (3 May 1844 – 20 July 1893) was an Australian

cricketer Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

who played in two

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Indoor cricket, Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (associa ...

, in 1877 and 1879.

Life and career

Kelly was born in Ireland but brought up in England in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

. He migrated to Australia when he was 19, settling in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

.''The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket'', Oxford, Melbourne, 1996, pp. 286–87. Kelly played domestic cricket for

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

for 17 seasons, first appearing in the summer of 1863–64. He gained a reputation as a fine fielder and aggressive batsman. He was widely regarded as one of the most brilliant fieldsmen at point in Australia or England. Kelly made his Test debut in the Second Test of the 1876–77 season. In the second innings, Kelly hit 35 – his highest Test score – of which all but three runs came from boundaries. His highest first-class score was 86 for Victoria against

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

in 1874–75. Kelly married Margaret Meoney in Melbourne in September 1869. He worked in Melbourne as a merchant. His wife died in 1883. He died at his home in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn in July 1893, aged 49, leaving £9,800 to be divided among his children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Thomas 1844 births 1893 deaths Sportspeople from County Waterford Australia Test cricketers Victoria cricketers Melbourne Cricket Club cricketers Australian cricketers Irish emigrants to colonial Australia