Liam O'Connor (born 20 June 1993) is an Australian

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er. He was previously contracted with the

Western Warriors The Western Australian Men’s cricket team, formerly nicknamed the Western Warriors, represent the Australian state of Western Australia in Australian domestic cricket. The team is selected and supported by the Western Australian Cricket Asso ...

, Western Australia's state team, but initially he did not play any first-class or

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

matches for the state. Since 2016, he has played for the

Adelaide Strikers The Adelaide Strikers are an Australian professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team based in Adelaide, South Australia that compete in the Big Bash League (BBL).Cricket Australia (n.d), Teams and Players, Cricket Australia, accessed 1 Decembe ...

in the

Big Bash League The Big Bash League (known as the KFC Big Bash League for sponsorship reasons, often abbreviated to BBL or Big Bash) is an Australian professional club Twenty20 cricket league, which was established in 2011 by Cricket Australia. The Big Bash Le ...

, being brought into the squad for BBL06 as an injury replacement, winning the tournament with the team in BBL07. In 2019, he made his first-class and List A debuts for Western Australia.

Cricket career

O'Connor first started to gain attention in the 2014–15 season playing

grade cricket Grade cricket, also known as Premier Cricket is the name of the senior inter-club or district cricket competitions in each of the Australian states and territories. The term may refer to: *Victorian Premier Cricket * NSW Premier Cricket *Queensl ...

in Perth for Bayswater-Morley District Cricket Club. In 15 games in the premier division he took 29 wickets, enough to earn himself a rookie contract with the

, Western Australia's state team, for the 2015–16 season. Though he came close to a

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Marsh Sheffield Shield) is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams from the six states of Australia. Sheffield Shi ...

debut, he did not get into the state team and instead played for Western Australia Under-23s in the

Futures League The Toyota Second XI or Futures League is the Australian national second XI cricket competition. Run by Cricket Australia, it is part of its development program and includes the various state and territory second XI teams, from the 2009–10 se ...

. He was the team's leading wicket taker with 28 wickets from just six games. As a result of his strong form he was upgraded to a full contract with the state for the 2016–17 season. Despite now being on a full contract with Western Australia, O'Connor still did not make his debut for Western Australia in either first-class or

List A cricket List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

. Shortly before the

2016–17 Big Bash League season The 2016–17 Big Bash League season or BBL, 06 was the sixth season of the KFC Big Bash League, the professional men's Twenty20 domestic cricket competition in Australia. The tournament ran from 20 December 2016 to 28 January 2017. The format ...

he did not have a contract with any of the eight franchises, but

spinner

Jon Holland Jonathan Mark Holland (born 29 May 1987) is an Australian cricketer. He is a slow left-arm orthodox bowler and a right-handed tail-end batsman. Early career Holland made his state cricket debut for Victoria in October 2008. He only played fou ...

was injured and unable to compete in the tournament, so the Strikers needed to find a replacement player. Strikers captain

Brad Hodge Bradley John Hodge (born 29 December 1974) is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman who batted in the middle order, as well as a part-time right-arm off-spin bowler. Hodge was a prolific run-scorer in ...

had previously coached Western Australian

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

Josh Inglis Joshua Patrick Inglis (born 4 March 1995) is an Australian cricketer who plays as a wicket-keeper and right-handed batsman. Inglis was born in Leeds, England, and moved to Australia with his family when he was 14. Inglis was a member of the Aust ...

in a tour match, so Inglis suggested that O'Connor would be a good bowler to sign. The Strikers signed him for the season, and he ended up playing every game in the first half of the tournament. His standout performance came when he took the wickets of

Moises Henriques Moisés Constantino Henriques (; born 1 February 1987) is a Portugal-born Australian professional cricketer who plays for Australia, New South Wales and the Sydney Sixers. An all-rounder, he is the first cricketer born in Portugal to play for A ...

and

Sean Abbott Sean Anthony Abbott (born 29 February 1992) is an Australian professional cricketer originally from Windsor in New South Wales who has represented his country internationally. After playing in junior cricket for Baulkham Hills Cricket Club, he ...

in the

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...

match to achieve bowling figures of 2/12 in a win. As a result of his strong performances, O'Connor was re-signed by the Strikers for BBL07, but he was not offered another contract with Western Australia. Throughout the tournament he was unable to play because Strikers' international player

Rashid Khan Rashid Khan Arman ( ps, ; born 20 September 1998) is an Afghan international cricketer and a former captain of the national team. In franchise leagues, he plays for Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Adelaide Strikers in Austra ...

was the team's main spinner, being the leading wicket-taker of the tournament. O'Connor played his only match of BBL, 07 in the final against the

Hobart Hurricanes The Hobart Hurricanes are an Australian professional men's T20 franchise cricket team based in Tasmania, Australia. They compete in Australia's domestic T20 cricket competition known as the Big Bash League, which is a league where many in ...

, while Khan was on international duty with

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. He was the second-most economical bowler on the day with figures of 0/27, only two boundaries hit off of his bowling. The Strikers won the match and the tournament. Before returning to Perth at the end of the tournament he went to Brisbane to help the

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

spinners in the team's training camp ahead of the

2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier The 2018 ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier was a cricket tournament that took place during March 2018 in Zimbabwe. It formed the final part of the Cricket World Cup qualification process for the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales. The top two te ...

. He made his first-class debut for

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

in the

2018–19 Sheffield Shield season The 2018–19 Sheffield Shield season was the 117th season of the Sheffield Shield, the domestic first-class cricket competition in Australia. The season started on 16 October 2018. For the first time in six seasons, the competition featured no ...

on 23 February 2019. He made his

debut on 31 October 2019, for Western Australia in the

2019–20 Marsh One-Day Cup The 2019 Marsh One-Day Cup was the 51st season of the official List A domestic cricket competition in Australia. The tournament saw matches played in Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Austral ...

Personal life

O'Connor works as an

insurance broker An insurance broker is an intermediary who sells, solicits, or negotiates insurance on behalf of a client for compensation. An insurance broker is distinct from an insurance agent in that a broker typically acts on behalf of a client by negoti ...

for Robinson Insurance Broking, playing cricket part-time.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Liam 1993 births Living people Australian cricketers Adelaide Strikers cricketers Western Australia cricketers Cricketers from Perth, Western Australia