Kenneth Burn
Encyclopedia
Edwin James Kenneth 'Kenny' Burn (17 September 1862 in Richmond, Tasmania
– 20 July 1956 at Hobart, Tasmania) was an Australia
n cricket
er who played in two Tests
on the tour to England in 1890. Although unsuccessful at test level, Burn is best known for being one of the most prolific batsmen in Tasmania at club level in the nineteenth century.
batting averages on 11 occasions throughout his career. He also set two long-standing Australian club cricket records by scoring 1,200 runs at an average of 133.00 in the 1889-1900 season, and in scoring 123 not out and 213 not out for Wellington against Break O' Day in 1895-96, he became the first man to score a century and double century in the same match in Australia. By the time of his retirement from club cricket, Burn had amassed 12,163 runs which is still the second highest total in the competition's history. Only Ronald Morrisby
who made an astonishing 16,000 runs in the 1950s has a higher total. Burn also took 362 wickets in his club career.
career, which lasted from the 1883-84 season through to 1909-10, he made two centuries, with 119 the higher. He also managed to take 14 wickets at the respectable average of 22.85 with his right-arm medium pace bowling. Burn was also Tasmania's first successful first-class captain
, leading the team to six victories in the 14 first-class matches that he led them for. His win percentage as captain of 42.85% was equalled by his successor, Reg Hawson (who captained the side on fewer occasions) but has not ever been bettered. The current Tasmanian captain, Daniel Marsh
has come closest with a current win percentage of 40%.
in what Wisden
termed "the one serious mistake in making up the side". Only after he had joined the team on the ship to England did he admit that he had never kept wicket.
Burn played in the first two Tests on the tour, both of them lost. In the first, he batted at No 10 and No 11; in the second, he was promoted to No 6 in the first innings and opened in the second innings. In all, he scored 41 runs.
At the time of his death at the age of 93 years 307 days, Burn was the oldest living Test cricketer. His obituary in the 1957 Wisden calls him "Kenneth Edward Burn".
The Lower Domain Road gates at Hobart's TCA Ground
are named the K.E.Burn Memorial Gates in his honour.
Richmond, Tasmania
Richmond is a town in Tasmania about 25 km north-east of Hobart, in the Coal River region, between the Midland Highway and Tasman Highway. At the 2006 census, Richmond had a population of 880....
– 20 July 1956 at Hobart, Tasmania) was an Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er who played in two Tests
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
on the tour to England in 1890. Although unsuccessful at test level, Burn is best known for being one of the most prolific batsmen in Tasmania at club level in the nineteenth century.
Club career
Burn was a prolific batsman in Tasmanian cricket for many years, playing first for his hometown side Richmond CC, and then the higher profile Wellington CC. He hit 41 centuries in all grades of cricket, two of them over 350 runs, and six of them in consecutive innings in the 1895-96 season. Without peer, he was undoubtedly Tasmania's best batsman of the 1890s at club and first-class level, leading the Tasmanian Grade CricketTasmanian Grade Cricket
Tasmanian Grade Cricket, or the Tasmanian Grade Competition, refers to the hierarchically graded cricket competitions played in Tasmania, Australia...
batting averages on 11 occasions throughout his career. He also set two long-standing Australian club cricket records by scoring 1,200 runs at an average of 133.00 in the 1889-1900 season, and in scoring 123 not out and 213 not out for Wellington against Break O' Day in 1895-96, he became the first man to score a century and double century in the same match in Australia. By the time of his retirement from club cricket, Burn had amassed 12,163 runs which is still the second highest total in the competition's history. Only Ronald Morrisby
Ronald Morrisby
Ronald Orlando George Morrisby , was a former Australian cricketer who played first-class cricket for Tasmania from 1931 until 1952...
who made an astonishing 16,000 runs in the 1950s has a higher total. Burn also took 362 wickets in his club career.
First-class career
In his first-class cricketFirst-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
career, which lasted from the 1883-84 season through to 1909-10, he made two centuries, with 119 the higher. He also managed to take 14 wickets at the respectable average of 22.85 with his right-arm medium pace bowling. Burn was also Tasmania's first successful first-class captain
Tasmanian cricket captains
The Australian state of Tasmania has one of the longest traditions of cricket-playing in the southern hemisphere. Cricket is recorded as having first been played in Tasmania very shortly after the arrival of British settlers on the island on 12 September 1803, however it wasn't until nearly fifty...
, leading the team to six victories in the 14 first-class matches that he led them for. His win percentage as captain of 42.85% was equalled by his successor, Reg Hawson (who captained the side on fewer occasions) but has not ever been bettered. The current Tasmanian captain, Daniel Marsh
Daniel Marsh
Daniel James Marsh was an Australian cricketer who captained the Tasmanian Tigers. The son of former Australian keeper Rod Marsh, Dan was a right-handed batsman and a handy slow left-arm orthodox bowler...
has come closest with a current win percentage of 40%.
Test career
Burn's selection for the Australian touring party in 1890 bordered on the farcical: he was picked as a wicket-keeperWicket-keeper
The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike...
in what Wisden
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom...
termed "the one serious mistake in making up the side". Only after he had joined the team on the ship to England did he admit that he had never kept wicket.
Burn played in the first two Tests on the tour, both of them lost. In the first, he batted at No 10 and No 11; in the second, he was promoted to No 6 in the first innings and opened in the second innings. In all, he scored 41 runs.
At the time of his death at the age of 93 years 307 days, Burn was the oldest living Test cricketer. His obituary in the 1957 Wisden calls him "Kenneth Edward Burn".
The Lower Domain Road gates at Hobart's TCA Ground
TCA Ground
The TCA Ground, or Tasmanian Cricket Association Ground, is one of two First Class standard cricket grounds in Hobart, Tasmania in Australia...
are named the K.E.Burn Memorial Gates in his honour.