In February 1935, Kennerley won a from
The Billiard Player, the official magazine of the
Billiards Association and Control Council, for making the highest break in that month, 301. In 1935, when he was unemployed, his friends collected money for him to enter the
English Amateur Billiards Championship; he lost in the Midlands area final to Frank Edwards. One of the spectators at the final, Mr. J.C. Pitchford, employed Kennerley, who had relevant experience, in the garage of his engineering firm Richard Lloyd. In the following year's Championship, he defeated Edwards in the Midlands area final, Kennerley's billiards break of 549 in the 1937 event remained the championship record until 1978, and he held the record break in the snooker tournament, 69, in 1939. In 1938 he travelled to
Melbourne and was runner-up in the
Empire Amateur Billiards Championship, losing to
Bob Marshall in the final, but making the championship record break of 472. On a tour of India later that year, he set Indian national record breaks in both billiards (1,118) and snooker (77). He announced in 1945 that he intended to become a professional after completing his
national service as a
munitions worker that year.
The Billiard Player described him as "one of the greatest amateurs the world has ever seen... a welcome addition to the professional ranks." He finished fourth of the nine players in the tournament, where players were
handicapped. He was runner-up in the
UK Professional English Billiards Championship in 1950, losing 5,069–9,046 to
John Barrie, and again the following year when he was defeated 6,011–8,120 by
Fred Davis. After 1957, a decline in public interest meant that the World Snooker Championship was not played as a full tournament again until the
1969 tournament, which started in November 1968. In 1969, the
BBC2 started showing
Pot Black, which led to a great increase in the popularity of snooker. Kennerley played in the first three series of
Pot Black from
1969 to
1971. He missed his scheduled match against
Jim Meadowcroft at the
1973 Championship due to being hospitalised following a heart attack. He played Meadowcroft in the first round of the
1974 edition and lost 5–8. After 1974, his next competitive match was at the
1980 World Championship qualifying, when he lost 2–9 to
Mike Hallett. He was defeated 1–9 by
Eddie Sinclair in the qualifying for the
1980 UK Championship, after a
walkover against Rea, and by the same score by
Pat Houlihan in the
following year's qualifying. In 1980, the
World Professional Billiards Championship was contested as a
knockout tournament for the first time since 1934.
Steve Davis eliminated Kennerley in the qualifying round, 1,859–965. In the preliminary round of the 1981 UK Professional English Billiards Championship, he lost 879–1,078 to
John Pulman. At the 1982 World Billiards Championship, the next time it was held after 1980, he lost his first match 753–1,500 against
Ray Edmonds. Kennerley died at home in
Castle Bromwich,
Birmingham on 26 June 1982 after having his third heart attack. ==Snooker performance timeline==