Simon O'Donnell

Simon O'Donnell
Personal information
Full name Simon Patrick O'Donnell
Born 26 January 1963
Deniliquin, New South Wales, Australia
Nickname Scoop
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm fast-medium
International information
National side
  • Australia
Test debut (cap 329) 13–18 June 1985 v England
Last Test 22–26 November 1985 v New Zealand
ODI debut (cap 83) 6 January 1985 v West Indies
Last ODI 10 December 1991 v India
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1984–1993 Victoria
Career statistics
Competition Tests ODIs FC LA
Matches 6 87 83 116
Runs scored 206 1242 4603 1784
Batting average 29.42 25.34 39.34 25.12
100s/50s –/– -/9 7/31 0/12
Top score 48 74*
Balls bowled 940 4350
Wickets 6 108 151 126
Bowling average 84.00 28.72
5 wickets in innings – 1 2 1
10 wickets in match – n/a 0 –
Best bowling 3/37 5/13 6/54 5/13
Catches/stumpings 4/– 22/– 60/0 27/0
Source: Cricinfo, 18 January 2006

Simon Patrick O'Donnell (born 26 January 1963) is a former Australian cricketer, VFL footballer, and horse racing and cricket commentator. He is currently a horse breeder.

Cricket

O'Donnell played as an all-rounder for Victoria in the Sheffield Shield between 1984 and 1993, scoring a century in his first match.[1] He went on to play 6 Test matches in 1985, 5 on the Ashes tour of England and one at home, but with a low bowling strike rate in 5 and 4 day cricket, he was more successful in the shorter form of the game.

Seen as a limited-overs specialist with clever medium pace bowling and explosive lower order hitting, he played 87 ODIs between 1985 and 1992, scoring 1242 runs and taking 108 wickets in his career. He played in Australia's 1987 World Cup Final victory and was a significant wicket-taker and finished the World cup as Australia's most economical bowler, but soon after he suffered severe pain that was diagnosed as non-Hodgkin lymphoma.[2]

He recovered with treatment to return to the Australian One-Day team in the 1988–89 season and played 43 more limited-overs matches till 10 December 1991 and claimed 56 wickets and made 5 match winning 50 plus scores including the fastest half-century in One Day Internationals (18 balls v Sri Lanka, Sharjah, 1990, which lasted for 6 years until Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya scored 50 from 17 balls v Pakistan at Singapore on 7 April 1996).[3] O'Donnell maintained a very good batting strike rate of 80.96 runs per 100 balls in ODIs, almost double his scoring rate in Tests.

He was captain of Victoria for five seasons from 1988–89 until his retirement in 1993. This was a mixed period, which included a Sheffield Shield victory in 90–91,[4] but Victoria also finished last in 1988–89,[5] 1989–90[6] and 1992–93.[7]

O'Donnell was voted international cricketer of the year in 1990-91.[8]

ODI 50's

Sl. Opponent Date How out Runs Result
1 West Indies 12 February 1985 c & b Joel Garner 69 West Indies won by 7 wickets[9]
2 Pakistan 24 February 1985 not out 74 Pakistan won by 62 runs[10]
3 West Indies 20 January 1987 c Holding b Marshall 52 West Indies won by 7 wickets[11]
4 Pakistan 3 April 1987 Run Out 54 Pakistan won by 6 wickets [12]
5 Sri Lanka 26 December 1989 Not Out 57 Australia won by 30 runs [13]
6 New Zealand 10 March 1990 Run Out 52 Australia won by 10 runs [14]
7 Sri Lanka 2 May 1990 b Ramanayake 74 Australia won by 114 runs [15]
8 New Zealand 11 December 1990 b Danny Morrison 66 Australia won by 39 runs [16]
9 England 1 January 1991 Not Out 71 Australia won by 68 runs [17]

Australian rules football

As a junior, Simon played Australian rules football for Assumption College, Kilmore, where he kicked 100 goals in his senior year. This led to him being recruited for senior football by the St Kilda Football Club, where his father Kevin had played 49 games on a forward flank in the 1940s. Coincidentally, Kevin O'Donnell played alongside two more notable Australian cricketers; Sam Loxton and Keith Miller, members of the legendary 1948 Invincibles.[18]

O'Donnell played 24 games and kicked 18 goals between 1982 and 1983 in what was then the VFL. However, he had continued to play cricket and retired from football to focus on his cricket career.

Media career

Simon O'Donnell's Test career batting performance.

O'Donnell hosted Melbourne radio station Sport 927's morning program with Kevin Bartlett until 2004.[19]

With the Nine Network, O'Donnell has been a commentator of cricket and now presents The Cricket Show. Having owned and managed race horses through his company, O'Donnell Thoroughbreds International,[20] he is also used as an expert on horseracing on Nine's racing coverage.[21]

In November 2011, it was announced that O'Donnell would replace James Brayshaw was host of The Sunday Footy Show. However, In November 2012, Nine announced that O'Donnell had left the network. [22]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Records/Australia/Firstclass/Victoria/Batting_Records/Hundred_On_Debut_For.html
  2. ↑ http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/cricket/health-is-odonnells-best-win/story-e6frfg8o-1111113605056
  3. ↑ http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/content/records/284095.html
  4. ↑ http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/54/54070.html
  5. ↑ http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/Tables/Sheffield_Shield_1988-89.html
  6. ↑ http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/Tables/Sheffield_Shield_1989-90.html
  7. ↑ http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/Tables/Sheffield_Shield_1992-93.html
  8. ↑ "winning without Test or tour.". The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995) (ACT: National Library of Australia). 12 February 1991. p. 20. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  9. ↑ Benson & Hedges World Series Cup – 3rd final-Match Report
  10. ↑ Benson & Hedges World Championship of Cricket – 5th match – Report
  11. ↑ Benson & Hedges World Series Cup – 3rd match – Report
  12. ↑ Sharjah Cup – 2nd match – Report
  13. ↑ Benson & Hedges World Series – 1st match – Report
  14. ↑ Rothmans Cup Triangular Series – 6th match – Report
  15. ↑ Austral-Asia Cup – 2nd semi final – Match Report
  16. ↑ Benson & Hedges World Series – 6th match – Report
  17. ↑ Benson & Hedges World Series – 11th match – Report
  18. ↑ http://www.saints.com.au/Season2007/News/NewsArticle/tabid/5315/Default.aspx?newsId=8231
  19. ↑ http://radionews.com.au/?p=131
  20. ↑ http://www.oti.com.au/html/s02_article/article_view.asp?id=189&nav_cat_id=116&nav_top_id=50&dsb=12785
  21. ↑ http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/experts/#odonnell
  22. ↑ http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/cricket/television-presenter-simon-odonnell-out-of-nine-stable/story-e6frfg8o-1226520741391

External links

See also