Francis MacKinnon

Francis MacKinnon Biography

At the time of his death, Francis Alexander Mackinnon, the 35th Mackinnon of Mackinnon, had lived through an eventful 98 years 324 days, which made him the oldest Test cricketer ever till that time. The record lasted 62 years until Eric Tindill went past him by spending 99 years 226 days on earth before passing away in 2010.

As a Harrovian, he did not quite manage to get into the playing eleven. But, by the time he was in St John’s College, Cambridge, he was a good enough player to get his Blues. In 1870, he was a member of the Cambridge side during their historic encounter with Oxford.

He played for Kent for a decade from 1875, and was one of the members of the side of Lord Harris that went to Australia in the winter of 1878.

It was not a very happy tour for the batsman. The only decent runs he made were in the matches against the odds teams put together by the local sides. In the Melbourne Test Mackinnon scored 0 and 5; on both occasions had his stumps flattened by Fred Spofforth. In the first innings, on the first day of the Test, he walked in to bat at 26 for 5 after Spofforth had whisked one past Reverend Vernon Royle. The ball that greeted him was too good for Mackinnon and his stumps were rearranged as well. And then Tom Emmett, one of the two professionals, came in and lofted the first ball down the throat of the long stop. It resulted in the first hat-trick in Test cricket.

Mackinnon continued to play for Kent till 1885, and in his penultimate year he enjoyed his most prolific season. When Australia played Kent that year, he opened the innings and scored 28 and 29 in a fantastic victory, earned mainly through the memorable bowling of Alec Hearne. That same summer he hit 115 against Hampshire and 102 against Yorkshire, the only hundreds of his career. He was second in Kent’s averages that year, his 33 following the 41 of Lord Harris.

He ended his career with 2,310 runs from 88 matches with 2 hundreds and an average of 15.71. He never bowled.

After giving up cricket, Mackinnon was made the President of the Kent County Club in 1889. A Captain in the Royal Kent Yeomanry from 1871 to 1893, he was promoted to Honorary Major in 1886. He was later appointed Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant for Kent from 1900 to 1902.

In 1903, his father William Alexander Mackinnon, the 34th head of the Scottish clan, passed away. Francis Alexander Mackinnon succeeded him to become the 35th Mackinnon of Mackinnon.

Arunabha Sengupta

Francis MacKinnon Batting & Fielding Averages

Career

Avg

100s

50s

Test

ODIs

T20s

World Cup

Francis MacKinnon Bowling Averages

Career	M	B	R	W	Avg	EC	SR	5WI	10WM	BBI	BBM
Test	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
ODIs	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
T20s	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
World Cup	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--		--