North Shore Times (New Zealand)
SUCCESSES AND SETBACKS
The first time Robbie O’Donnell faced the hard ball as a youngster he was out for a golden duck.
His second innings didn’t last much longer, when he was again dismissed without scoring.
The inauspicious start didn’t deter him.
He is now forging a career that has netted many runs in recent seasons.
The 2015/2016 season was O’Donnell’s best for the Auckland Aces.
After posting his maiden first class century and scoring more than 1000 runs across the three national competitions, he was named as Auckland Cricket’s Young Cricketer of the Year.
‘‘It was probably the year I needed to try to solidify a place in the team,’’ the 22-year-old says.
‘‘I’m really happy I could do that last year and stand up in times when we needed it, which is the coolest part. Rather than performing when things were quite easy, standing up in times when we were under the pump which is when you want to get noticed.
‘‘Hopefully it is just a building block for things to come in the next few years as I try to push that Black Caps setup.’’
O’Donnell has often displayed talent beyond his years. He made his high school’s first XI as a fourth former but didn’t get picked for Auckland age-group sides until under-16s.
‘‘I was probably quite competitive in those years, I was quite chatty and talky and chubby as well so I was probably the combination nobody wanted,’’ O’Donnell says.
At 17, O’Donnell was the youngest member of the 2012 New Zealand Under-19 World Cup team. It was a team that featured spinner Ish Sodhi who has gone on to the Black Caps, and others like Ed Nuttall and Will Young who are making a name for themselves on the domestic scene.
O’Donnell very nearly didn’t make the trip to Australia for the tournament where New Zealand finished fourth. After training with the wider under-19 squad he was initially left out of the final 15-man team.
However a ‘‘golden summer’’ for his Westlake Boys High School team and Takapuna club side swayed the selectors.
‘‘People will probably say I was trying to prove a point but it was just the way it turned out. I just enjoyed my cricket and just wanted to play with my mates and then all of a sudden you get the call-up because you’ve scored a lot of runs.’’
He also captained the 2014 New Zealand Under-19 World Cup team.
‘‘The under-19 New Zealand work was where I started to learn a bit more about my game and that there was a bigger picture, rather than its all just get your runs and pack your bag and go home.’’
WORKING FOR DAD
For most of O’Donnell’s life, his dad Mark has been a cricket coach. O’Donnell senior was coaching in South Africa when his eldest son was young and has had stints with the Black Caps and twenty20 sides in India and the Caribbean since then. Now he is back for a second spell coaching the Aces.
Over the years father and son have been on the same team and opposing sides but the combination at Aces is a successful one.
‘‘Dad and I have got a good relationship with that, obviously this is my fourth season this year [with the Aces], Matt Horne was the coach the first year and Dad has been back for the past three.
‘‘I’ve always had Dad as a coach and an idol in that sense. He’s been very good with his cricketing stuff.’’
The family are very cricket orientated with O’Donnell’s younger brother Will, who is captaining Takapuna’s premier side this summer, also working towards following in his big brother’s footsteps.
‘‘As much as the boys in the family love it, Mum and Grandma despise the sport and would rather us be hairdressers and practicals.’’
The rest of the Aces squad know nepotism isn’t at play. ‘‘There is no grief in here. Originally I thought people would be thinking ‘you’re just here because of that’ but I feel like I’ve definitely earned a place here now.’’