[3] When the university term was over, he joined Leicestershire with limited success; at the end of the season, too, he was picked for the Gentlemen v Players match in the Scarborough Festival.
[9] The 1961 University Match was a tedious draw in which the defensive cricket played by both teams was criticised; in one two-hour session Kirby, "bowling medium-paced off cutters", took three wickets for 32 runs off 24 overs.
[11] This proved to be Kirby's most successful period as a batsman and he averaged more than 30 runs an innings in his 10 games for Leicestershire.
A combination of batting solidity and three bowlers in the top 10 of the English averages propelled Leicestershire in 1961 to ninth in the County Championship, a long way above their accustomed position at or near the bottom of the table.
When Kirby was appointed captain for 1962, the expectations were high; the reality was a swift descent to the bottom of the table again.
[16] After Leicestershire finished at the bottom of the County Championship table in 1962 Kirby resigned and began his teaching career at St Peter's School in York where he had been a pupil.