William McCanlis


Captain William McCanlis was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Kent County Cricket Club between 1862 and 1877 and later became known for his role in coaching young cricketers at the county's Tonbridge Nursery. He was born at Woolwich, then considered to be part of Kent but now in London, and died at Westcombe Park in Blackheath.

Playing career

McCanlis had a long career in the British Army as a quartermaster in the Ordnance Store Department, a forerunner of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps; he was awarded the honorary rank of captain in 1886 and was regularly referred to as "Captain McCanlis" thereafter. He played cricket for Kent as a right-handed middle-order or opening batsman and an occasional bowler in a few matches in the early 1860s, and then returned to play fairly regularly between 1871 and 1877. By modern standards, his batting figures are unimpressive, and his highest score was an innings of 67 made against Lancashire in 1873. In the same season, he and his brother George scored 99 of the 107 runs that came from the bat in Kent's first innings in the Surrey game. An obituary of him almost 50 years after his last first-class game stated: "At his best, he was a powerful hitter, driving extremely well, and he was also a useful field."

Coaching career

After he ceased playing, McCanlis joined the Kent County Cricket Club committee and took charge of the identification and development of young players at the newly established Tonbridge Nursery. He was credited with spotting and then coaching many of the side that provided Kent with its most successful team ever in the years leading up to the First World War, among them Colin Blythe, Frank Woolley, James Seymour, Arthur Fielder, Jack Hubble and Wally Hardinge.

Family

McCanlis' brother George played first-class cricket for Kent alongside him; his grandson Kenneth McCanlis was a Minor Counties player and a first-class umpire; Maurice McCanlis, Oxford University cricket captain and an England rugby union international, was a cousin.