There is a familiar name on the Otago Country team list for its Hawke Cup qualifying game in Timaru this weekend.
Thomas O’Connor, at the tender age of 17, will make his debut in Country’s final zone 4 game of the season against South Canterbury.
The Otago Boys’ High School year 13 pupil is the son of former Black Caps and Otago Volts swing bowler Shayne O’Connor, who played 57 games for the national side across test and one-day cricket between 1997 and 2001.
Like his father, Thomas is a left-arm bowler, but he is also an accomplished right-hand batter who recently scored some useful runs for Otago at the national under-19 tournament.
He gets his opportunity to impress in a Country side that showed grit to hold on for a draw against Southland in its most recent game and is tied at the top of the zone points table with the southerners on 16 points.
The issue for Otago Country is that it possibly needs to get 12 points for an outright win this weekend, and the weather forecast does not look good for Aorangi Oval.
It is also Country’s last game, and Southland has two more to play.
Southland is in Oamaru this weekend to play North Otago (12 points), buoyant after its Jeremy Smith-inspired win over South Canterbury, and bolstered by the return of Llew Johnson to the batting order.
Final games in the zone are on February 26-27, after which the winner will get a challenge on March 11-13.
Hawke Cup holder Hawke’s Bay, having seen off Manawatu’s challenge, hosts Bay of Plenty this weekend. Canterbury Country gets a challenge at the end of the month.
Hawke Cup
Today and tomorrow
— Otago Country v South Canterbury, Timaru
— North Otago v Southland, Oamaru
Squads
Otago Country: Sam Blakely (captain), Taylor Cumberland, Cam Jackson, Michael Goldstein, Sukhdev Sandhu, Jeremy Gray, Charanjit Singh, Josh Shackleton, Amrit Gossal, Thomas O’Connor, Swaran Sandhu.
South Canterbury: Glen Drake (captain), Liam Beck, Daniel Campbell, Toby Clemett, Taine Cordell-Hull, Ben Davenport, Caleb Donaldson, Phil Lill, Sam Porter, Mark Otley, Shaun Rooney, William Sharp.
North Otago: Lachie Kingan (captain), Jeremy Smith, Amal Ashok, Tom Dempster, Stephan Grobler, Cameron Grubb, Mason James, Llew Johnson, Nick Johnston, Jeremiah Shields, Thomas Shields, Anthony Docherty.
Southland: Brendan Domigan (captain), Venkat Kotte, Amarpreet Singh, Hamish Skelt, Jack Mockford, Ben Lockrose, Benji Culhane, Ben McCall, Jason Osborne, Liam McFaul, Blake Buttar-Scurr, Paddy Howes.
