Brian Redmond Devereaux O'Connor (5 July 1913 – 17 December 1963) was an Australian

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

er who played

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams representing the six states of Australia. The Sheffield Shield is named after Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl of Sheffield, Lor ...

cricket for

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Biography

O'Connor, a right-arm fast-medium opening bowler and lower order batsman, made four of his five first-class matches in the 1934/35 Sheffield Shield season. He struggled on his debut, against South Australia at the

Brisbane Cricket Ground The Brisbane Cricket Ground, commonly known as the Gabba, is a major sports stadium in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia. The nickname Gabba derives from the suburb of Woolloongabba, in which it is located. Over the years, the Ga ...

, going wicket-less in the first innings and conceding 80 runs off just 13 overs. In the second innings he dismissed opener

Vic Richardson Victor York "Yorker" Richardson (7 September 189430 October 1969), nicknamed The Guardsman, was a leading Australian sportsman of the 1920s and 1930s, captaining the Australia cricket team and the South Australia Australian rules football te ...

and then helped Queensland win the match by scoring 11 not out from nine in the batting order, securing a narrow three wicket victory. His next appearance was at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as the 'G, is a sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere, the Lis ...

against Victoria and he was more successful with the ball, claiming 2/72, with the wickets of Leo O'Brien and Len Darling. The Queenslanders were outplayed on this occasions and were unable to score enough runs to make the Victorians bat a second time. He again played against South Australia for his third Shield match, this time at Adelaide Oval. In statistically his worst bowling effort, he finished with 0/120 off only 17 overs in South Australia's first innings, as each of their top four batsmen scored centuries. Chasing a small total, the home side won by eight wickets, with O'Connor picking up the wicket of Frank Collins. In his last Sheffield Shield appearance, O'Connor was part of the Queensland team which played New South Wales at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in the Moore Park, New South Wales, Moore Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australi ...

. His only contribution was the wicket of Ted white, caught and bowled. The following summer, O'Connor was called into the team to play the

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

in Brisbane. He opening the bowling with Eddie Gilbert in the MCC's only innings and took 1/54, with Joe Hardstaff his wicket. After being run-out for 13 in his first innings, O'Connor posted his highest score in the second, making 20 before he was sent back to the pavilion. Although he never again played for Queensland, O'Connor continued to compete at

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for Eastern Suburbs and topped the bowling averages in 1939/40. He was the only son of Leo O'Connor, a Queensland cricket captain who also led his state in

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

interstate matches. Like his father, O'Connor was a Queensland representative in both sports. He played for

South Brisbane South Brisbane is an inner southern suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , South Brisbane had a population of 14,292 people. Geography South Brisbane is on the southern bank of the Brisbane River, bounded to the nor ...

in the Queensland Australian National Football League. They were not his only sports, he also played

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

with the GPS Rugby Club. During the war, O'Connor served as a pilot with the

Royal Australian Air Force The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal Air force, aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the Governor-Gener ...

. He flew a Hampden torpedo bomber with the 455 Squadron, where he was a

Squadron Leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr or S/L) is a senior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Squadron leader is immediatel ...

.''Army News (Darwin)'',
Brian O'Connor Home
, 17 March 1944. p. 2

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Brian 1913 births Australian cricketers Queensland cricketers Australian rules footballers from Queensland Australian rugby union players Australian World War II pilots Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II 1963 deaths Cricketers from Brisbane Royal Australian Air Force officers GPS Rugby players 20th-century Australian sportsmen