Kevin O'Brien (cricketer)
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| Kevin O’Brien | ||||
 Ireland |
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| Personal information | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Kevin Joseph O’Brien | |||
| Born | 4 March 1984 | |||
| Dublin, Republic of Ireland | ||||
| Batting style | Right-hand | |||
| Bowling style | Right arm medium-fast | |||
| International information | ||||
| ODI debut (cap 10) | 13 July 2006: v England | |||
| Last ODI | 15 July 2007: v Scotland | |||
| ODI shirt no. | 22 | |||
| Domestic team information | ||||
| Years | Team | |||
| 2006–present | Ireland | |||
| Career statistics | ||||
| ODIs | FC | LA | ||
| Matches | 20 | 4 | 31 | |
| Runs scored | 573 | 99 | 782 | |
| Batting average | 30.15 | 24.75 | 26.06 | |
| 100s/50s | 1/2 | 0/1 | 1/2 | |
| Top score | 142 | 50 | 142 | |
| Balls bowled | 474 | 244 | 779 | |
| Wickets | 10 | 8 | 14 | |
| Bowling average | 42.20 | 13.00 | 49.00 | |
| 5 wickets in innings | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 10 wickets in match | n/a | 0 | n/a | |
| Best bowling | 2/38 | 4/38 | 2/31 | |
| Catches/stumpings | 9/– | 2/– | 11/– | |
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As of 25 August 2007 |
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Kevin Joseph O'Brien (born March 4, 1984) in Dublin is an Irish cricketer educated in Marian College, Ballsbridge. An allrounder, O'Brien is a hard hitting right handed middle to lower order batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler. His brother Niall is also a member of the Irish team. Their father Brendan played 52 times for Ireland.[1]
Kevin O'Brien represented Ireland in the Under-19s World Cup of 2004 in which he made 241 runs to help his country reach the Plate Semi-Final before being defeated by Australia. The following year he played for the MCC Young Cricketers.
In June 2006 he made his One Day International debut in Ireland's inaugural ODI game, against England in Belfast. Bowling first he took 1 for 47 off his 10 overs as England managed 301. His wicket came off his first delivery and was that of captain Andrew Strauss who was caught at square leg by Andre Botha. Batting at number 8, O'Brien made 35 from 48 balls but Ireland fell 38 runs short.
Taking part in Ireland's disappointing World Cricket League campaign in Kenya, O'Brien was one of the success stories. In their second game of the tournament, against Bermuda, O'Brien took his career best figures of 2 for 38 by taking the wickets of middle order batsmen David Hemp and Lionel Cann. In the chase he made 54, his maiden ODI half century and helped his side win with 8 balls to spare. When Ireland made 284 batting first against Kenya in the following game it was O'Brien who made half of the runs. His innings of 142 was the highest ever by an Irish batsman and was made off 128 balls, containing 10 fours and 6 sixes. Ireland then took on Canada and O'Brien continued his good form with the bat by making his 3rd consecutive score of fifty plus with a composed 52. The final game of the tournament came against the Netherlands and despite failing with the bat he took 2 wickets. He finished as the second top scorer in the League with 263 runs at 52.80.
The next tour for O'Brien was the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean and it would be his biggest test yet as 6 of his 7 One Day International games prior had been against non Test playing nations. Their opening game against Zimbabwe finished in a tie when Zimbabwe collapsed in the dying stages. O'Brien came on to bowl in the 49th over with Zimbabwe requiring 9 runs from 12 balls and 3 wickets in hand. His first ball was a full toss but Zimbabwean captain Prosper Utseya hit it straight to Eoin Morgan at cover to give him his first World Cup wicket. Chris Mpofu was run out off O'Brien's final delivery and he finished the penultimate over with a wicket maiden. Ireland came up against Pakistan in the next game and they restricted the Test nation to just 132 with O'Brien taking the wicket of Shoaib Malik. O'Brien came in to bat with his side at 70/4 and he added 38 runs with his brother Niall. Ireland eventually won by 3 wickets and O'Brien finished unbeaten on 16 from 52 balls. His highest score of the tournament came in the Super Eight stage against New Zealand where he made 49, hitting 3 sixes. He missed out on his half century when he was run out by his brother. Arguably his best performance of the 2007 Cricket World Cup was his fast 48 runs scored against Bangladesh which helped secure a historic Irish victory.
[edit] External links
- Kevin O'Brien at Cricket Archive
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