Mexborough and Swinton Times April 6, 1928
Kilner’s Career
Great though Yorkshire has always been in a cricketing sense (wrote “Old Ebor “), the county has produced singularly few left-handed batsmen of real class. The Eleven have never been without a good left-arm bowler, but not since the retirement of Robert Peel had the left-arm bowler also been a prominent left-handed bat until Roy Kilner added with set purpose the bowling art to his natural batting abilities.
Hirst and Rhodes, of course, bowl, left-arm, but they bat right. Of the younger school of batsmen it is also singular that two really good left-hand batsmen should have the relationship of uncle and nephew
When illness caused the late Irving Washington’s retirement from county cricket in 1902 Tom followers of Yorkshire realise that the Eleven had lost the most brilliant left-hander the county and discovered for many years. Nearly a decade passed and although other left-handers were tried, it was not until Roy Kilner, a nephew of Irving Washington appeared on the scene in 1911 that will batsmen of his class found a place in Yorkshire championship cricket.
Roy Kilner was born at Low Valley on October 17, 1890, and learnt most of his cricket at Mitchell Main. After a probationary period in the Yorkshire Second XI, he was introduced into the first team in 1911. He played seven matches and intelligent said he only scored 60 runs. Unpromising though these figures were the old Yorkshire players themselves believed that Kilner would develop, and that opinion was shared by critics who were accustomed to see the team play through each season.
That then he was correct was proved in 1912, when Kilner played in 18 matches and was fifth in the team’s batting list. Yorkshire won the county championship that year, and it was a performance by Kilner and Mr J Tasker at Nottingham that proved a turning point in the tournament. Yorkshire, after a weak first innings, had to score 232 to win in the last innings of the match. Kilner and Tasker had a splendid partnership at a critical point on the innings, and Yorkshire won by five wickets.
The left-handers share of the victory consisted of a brilliant and chanceless innings of 83 not out.
In 1913 Kilner scored 1307 runs in county matches, whilst in 1914, despite the handicap of a serious illness during the winter, he completed an aggregate of 1329 runs. His second century was made in the year (1914), the Gloucestershire bowling been punished by him on the Bristol ground to the extent of 169 runs in a total of 405.
Yet apart from his performance against Notts just mentioned. Kilner’s greatest batting display was not in these centurie but in the attempt which he made to give Yorkshire the victory in a very exciting match with Northamptonshire at Leeds in July 1913. He went in overnight while two wickets were down for 40 runs, and was not beaten until within 9 runs of the century the next day. The Northants man, who only won by 20 runs,-were loud in the praise of Kilner’s performance on this occasion
Kilner’s stye was exceptionally graceful for a left-hander. He made a feature of his leg and square leg hitting, but he could also drive to the offside and cut beautifully. He developed from a moderate and somewhat nervous into a brilliant fieldsman was specially sparked in the “like trap,” and he was also used occasionally as a change bowler.
War Experiences
The highest honours were predicted for Kilner when the great War broke out and turned his attention to the greater game, in which Major Booth and he resolved to try their fortunes together. They were playing with Yorkshire at Brighton when they came to this decision, and together enlisted in the “Leeds Pals” battalion.
Kilner was wounded in the trenches during the war, just prior to the fatal July 1, when Major W Booth and so many of the gallant “”Leeds Pals” fell, and for a time he was on home service in consequence.
When cricket became possible again, there were two bowling vacancies in the Yorkshire XI to fill, for Alonzo Drake had died suddenly after being rejected for military service.
Kilner, therefore, decided to perfect his bowling, and explained that he did so because from Yorkshire’s point of view it was “a case of necessity.”
Development As Bowler.
How he developed as a bowler will be within the recollection of all followers of the game. The development was attended in recent years with some falling of in batting, yet in seasons 1922-3-5 and 6 he accomplished the coveted all rounder’s ” feat of scoring over a thousand runs and taking over 100 wickets.
His best season in the dual capacity was 1923, when he scored 1,404 runs and took 13S wickets. It was on this form that he selected as a member of the England that visited Australia under the captaincy of Mr. A. E. Gilligan in 1924.
For Yorkshire Kilner scored 15 innings of 100 and over, his highest all these aggregates being an unfinished 206 against Derbyshire in 1920; also for the county he scored over a thousand runs in each of 10 seasons, the highest of these aggregates been 1586 in 1913.
Twice with the ball in the county’s cricket he took eight wickets in an innings, the first occasion being 8 for 29 against Glamorgan in 1923 and the other 8 for 40 against Middlesex in 1926.
There also are such special bowling feats to his credit as six wickets for 13 against Hampshire, 6 for 22 against Essex. and five for 14 v Notts in 1922, six for 14 against Middlesex in 1923, and five for 14 in 1925 against both Lancashire and Sussex.
The batting averages in the Yorkshire Year Bock, compiled by Sir H Gordon, show that Kilner played 435 completed innings for the county, scored 13,014 runs, and had an average of 29.91 per innings, while with the ball ho took 858 wickets at a cost of 17.35 per wicket.. For the Players against the Gentlemen at Lord’s in 1924 he scored 113 with the bat, and at one period of the game took five wickets in two overs.
Against Australia.
When with Gilligan’s team in Australia Kilner in a match against Victoria at Melbourne dismissed five men, for 18 runs; his most meritorious effort was the taking of eight wickets at a cost of 158 runs in a Test match on the same ground at a time when England were suffering a severe handicap through casualties. He was not included in the Test team until the third game of the tour. The fact was strongly commented upon in this part of the world at the time, and it was at least significant that he was not left out of the team again.
In 1926, when the Australians were in this country, Kilner played in the Test matches at Nottingham, Lord’s, Leeds, and ‘Manchester, but was not included in the side that settled the destination of the Ashes in the concluding game at Kennington Oval. He also played in the Test matches against South Africa at Birmingham and Manchester in 1924. In the first of those games be scored 59 runs but in the second rain made the contest abortive. Kilmer bowled 12 overs for 19 runs and no wicket, and had no opportunity of batting.
Kilner paid several visits to India as cricket guest of his Highness the Maharaja of Patiala.
His benefit match at Leeds in 1925, beat all records, the sum realised being £4016 19s 3d. It was a significant testimony to his popularity with the cricket public, as well as a recognition of his great services to the game. Of a sunny disposition he won all hearts by selfishness in the team, by his high sporting qualities, his modesty in success and his cheeriness in adversity, and the will to fight and to fight fairly in all circumstances.
His place will indeed be hard to fill.