Thomas O'Connor, son of former New Zealand pacer Shayne, bettered his father’s career-best first-class figures on Monday, March 9.
Thomas O'Connor takes 7-58 for Otago in Plunket Shield
Lining up for Otago in what was just his fourth first-class appearance, Thomas returned figures of 7-58, a personal best. Shayne O'Connor, who played 19 Tests and 38 ODIs for New Zealand, took 278 wickets in a 73-match first-class career, but his best returns were 6-31.
Auckland Aces had won the toss and opted to bat first in the Round 6 Plunket Shield fixture against Otago, but their decision backfired quickly. Dale Phillips, brother of New Zealand all-rounder Glenn, was dismissed on just the third ball of the innings by Luke Georgeson.
No.3 Harish Kannan couldn’t hang around for long and became O’Connor’s first wicket of the innings, trying to flick a full delivery that rattled his stumps, in the sixth over. Captain Sean Solia and Bevon Jacobs restored some parity, adding 54 runs together for the third wicket before the latter fell to Jarrod McKay.
Match 17, Auckland Aces vs Otago Volts
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Cam Fletcher then played down a short delivery from Danru Ferns onto his stumps, with Auckland going down to 99-4, before O’Connor took over completely. The southpaw bowled captain Solia (60) with a length delivery that kept straight and took his off stump after lunch on Day 1, before having Lachie Stackpole and Simon Keene caught behind in the same over.
O’Connor trapped Adi Ashok leg before to complete his maiden five-for in first-class cricket and had No.9 Rohit Gulati caught behind off the next delivery for his sixth. A spirited 62-run stand between Ryan Harrison and No.11 Ben Lister lasted 162 deliveries, with the latter playing 77 balls for six runs.
But soon after tea, O’Connor made Lister his seventh wicket of the day as Auckland were bowled out for 228. The left-arm pacer’s figures of 7-58 were Otago’s second-best figures this century after Neil Wagner’s 7-46 against Wellington in the 2011-12 season. In reply to Auckland’s 228, Otago had reached 70-1 by stumps on Day 1.
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