For the next three years at Lancashire he played mainly for the second team, but made a first-class appearance against Hampshire in August when he scored a duck.
He played three county championship matches in 1949 and started to make reasonable scores but left Lancashire at the end of the season.
For Lancashire he played 11 innings in 6 first-class matches with an average of 18.75 and a top score of 58.
He scored four centuries in the 1957 season with 106 against Yorkshire, 109 not out against Glamorgan, 113 against Gloucestershire and 127 against Leicestershire.
Kelly was a right-hand batsman and played 437 innings in 259 first-class matches with an average of 23.56 and a top score of 131 among nine centuries.