Maxwell Patrick O'Dowd (born 4 March 1994) is a Dutch international

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 who made his debut for the

Netherlands national cricket team The Netherlands national cricket team (Dutch: Nederlandse cricket team) is the men's team that represents the Kingdom of the Netherlands and is administered by the Royal Dutch Cricket Association. Cricket has been played in the Netherlands sin ...

in June 2015. He is a right-handed

opening batsman In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batters play through their team's innings, there always being two batters taking part at any one time. All eleven players in a team are required to bat if the innings is completed (i.e., if ...

and has played for the Netherlands in three editions of the

ICC Men's T20 World Cup The ICC Men's T20 World Cup (earlier known as ICC World Twenty20) is the international championship of Twenty20. Organised by cricket's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), the tournament consists of 16 teams, comprising t ...

Personal life

O'Dowd was born on 4 March 1994 in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, New Zealand. His father

Alex O'Dowd Alexander Patrick O'Dowd (born 25 February 1967) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former first-class cricketer. He has coached North Harbour Rugby Union Mitre 10 Cup side, was head coach of the Dutch national side and is assistant coach w ...

played first-class cricket in New Zealand for

and

Northern Districts The Northern Districts men's cricket team are one of six New Zealand first-class cricket teams that make up New Zealand Cricket. They are based in the northern half of the North Island of New Zealand (excluding Auckland). They compete in the ...

, and played and coached club cricket in the Netherlands for

HBS Craeyenhout HBS Craeyenhout is a omnisports club based in The Hague that fields teams in association football, cricket and hockey. The club is best known for its football team, which is one of the original clubs of Dutch football, and three times national ch ...

. O'Dowd holds a Dutch passport through his mother. He lived in the Netherlands until the age of twelve, before returning to Auckland and attending

Westlake Boys High School Westlake Boys High School is a state secondary school for boys located in Forrest Hill, Auckland, New Zealand. The school opened in 1962, when Westlake High School (opened 1958) split into Westlake Girls High School on the existing site and We ...

Domestic and franchise career

O'Dowd played for the

Netherlands national under-19 cricket team The Netherlands Under-19 cricket team represents the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , establish ...

in the month-long 2012 European Challenge Series. His tournament included a five-wicket haul (5/20) against

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

, and two half-centuries (against Jersey and

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

). Back in New Zealand for the 2012–13 season, O'Dowd played every match for the Auckland under-19s in the National Under-19 Tournament.Miscellaneous matches played by Max O'Dowd
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 16 June 2015. He played club cricket in England in 2013, and also appeared in a single match in the

Second Eleven Championship The Second XI Championship is a season-long cricket competition in England that is competed for by the reserve teams of those county cricket clubs that have first-class status. The competition started in 1959 and has been contested annually ever ...

in the same season, playing for

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

. O'Dowd played regularly for Auckland A during the 2014–15 New Zealand season. For the 2015 season, he signed for the Northern Hurricanes franchise in the North Sea Pro Series, a professional league which features teams from the Netherlands and Scotland. In July 2019, he was selected to play for the Rotterdam Rhinos in the inaugural edition of the

Euro T20 Slam The Euro T20 Slam is a planned professional Twenty20 cricket league. The first edition of the tournament was initially scheduled to start in August 2019, with matches to be held in Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands. It's launch has been post ...

cricket tournament. However, the following month the tournament was cancelled.

International career

In June 2015, O'Dowd made his senior debut for the Netherlands in an Intercontinental Cup match against

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 ...

. He scored 14 in the first innings before being dismissed by

Loa Nou Loa Nou (born 31 December 1987) from Hanuabada Village is a Papua New Guinean cricketer. A right-handed batsman and right-arm fast medium pace bowler, he has played for the Papua New Guinea national cricket team since 2007 and is the opening bowle ...

, and in the second innings was out to

Willie Gavera Willie Toua Gavera (born 18 August 1988) is a Papua New Guinean cricketer. Gavera is a right-handed batsman and fast bowler. He was born in Port Moresby. Having played age-group cricket for Papua New Guinea Under-19s in the 2008 Under-19 Wor ...

for a five-ball

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...

. Brought on to bowl in Papua New Guinea's second innings, he took the wicket of

Lega Siaka Lega Siaka (born 21 December 1992) is a Papua New Guinean cricketer. International career He made his One Day International (ODI) debut for Papua New Guinea on 8 November 2014 against Hong Kong in Australia. He made his Twenty20 International ( ...

with his fourth ball in first-class cricket, finishing with 1/44. O'Dowd had not been named in the initial squad for that match. O'Dowd made his

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

debut for the Netherlands against Nepal on 1 July 2015. He was named in the Dutch squads for both the WCL Championship fixture against PNG and the 2015 World Twenty20 Qualifier. He made his

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 ...

debut in the WCL Championship against Scotland on 14 September 2015. In July 2018, he was named in the Netherlands'

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

(ODI) squad, for their series against Nepal, but he did not play. In June 2019, he was named in the Netherlands' ODI squad for their series against Zimbabwe. He made his ODI debut for the Netherlands against

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

on 19 June 2019. In September 2019, he was named in the Dutch squad for the

2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier The 2019 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Qualifier was a cricket tournament held during October and November 2019 in the United Arab Emirates to determine which teams would qualify for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament. The six teams finishing ...

tournament in the United Arab Emirates. In April 2020, he was one of seventeen Dutch-based cricketers to be named in the team's senior squad. In March 2021, O'Dowd was named in the Dutch squad for the

2020–21 Nepal Tri-Nation Series The 2020–21 Nepal Tri-Nation Series was a Twenty20 international cricket tournament that took place in April 2021 in Nepal. The participating teams were Nepal, Malaysia and the Netherlands. The matches were all played at the Tribhuvan Universit ...

. In the second match of the tournament, against

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, O'Dowd scored 133

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

from 73 balls, and became the first batsman for the Netherlands to score a century in a T20I match. In May 2021, during the first ODI between Netherlands and Scotland, he became the second batsman to score half-centuries in each of his first three ODI matches after Tom Cooper. In September 2021, O'Dowd was named in the Dutch squad for the

2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the seventh ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament, with the matches played in the United Arab Emirates and Oman from 17 October to 14 November 2021. The West Indies were the defending champions, but were eventua ...

. During the West Indies tour of the Netherlands in 2022, O’Dowd was the top scorer, with 179 runs across three matches, including 89 in the final game.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:ODowd, Max 1994 births Living people Dutch cricketers Netherlands One Day International cricketers Netherlands Twenty20 International cricketers Dutch people of New Zealand descent Dutch people of Irish descent New Zealand cricketers New Zealand people of Dutch descent New Zealand people of Irish descent People educated at Westlake Boys High School Cricketers from Auckland