The rise of the lion-hearted ‘giraffe’
Canterbury bowling coach Brendon Donkers has a classic analogy for the first time he spotted Will O’Rourke charging in at the nets. “Early on he was a little bit like a newborn giraffe, really. He was arms and legs all over the place. You could soon tell there was something there,” Donkers says.
“He was big and he had a mentality of wanting to bowl a lot and wanting to bowl as quickly as he could.”
O’Rourke has come a long way since those days, having shifted from Auckland to Christchurch in 2019 to study sports coaching at the University of Canterbury.
Towering above his team-mates at 1.97m, barring the injured Kyle Jamieson (2.03m), O’Rourke’s height is the first thing that sticks out.
The 22-year-old rightarm quick is the talk of New Zealand cricket after a dream test debut last week against South Africa in Hamilton. There were few signs of nerves from O’Rourke, who finished with match figures of 9-93 – the best test figures by a New Zealander on debut.
His stellar start to test cricket has quickly been parked with the challenge of Australia’s talented top order looming at Wellington’s Basin Reserve, starting on Thursday.
O’Rourke’s ability has been evident from a young age, even if his bowling action left plenty to be desired.
Cricket runs in the family. Father Patrick was a right-arm pace bowler too, taking 89 first-class and 17 List A wickets for Wellington from 1989-1993.
Patrick was previously chief country officer in New Zealand for Deutsche Bank, also spending 13 years in London working for Deutsche. O’Rourke was born in London in 2001 and his family moved back to Auckland when he was 5.
“I’ve got photos of him as a baby with my cricket gloves on. He’s been a cricket nut for as long as I can remember,” Patrick says.
“He wanted to play straight away, but I held him back until he was 7.”
O’Rourke made a name for himself at the under-17 age-group nationals in 2018, playing for the title-winning Auckland side.
“He didn’t have the greatest bowling action back then. He was in a bit of a tangle. He’s obviously worked really hard,” says Ben Williams, who coached O’Rourke in the First XI at Auckland’s Saint Kentigern College.
“The talent that I spotted was his wrist position. He could always get the ball to talk. You could already see he was quite skilful.”
O’Rourke progressed to play for the Auckland under-19s, winning another agegroup title in 2019-20.
It was in an Auckland high school match that Auckland under-19s coach Michael Tillett realised O’Rourke was something special, playing against his Westlake Boys’ team.
“He was Year 11, 15 years old, and running in and trying to bump guys at that age. I can remember him getting a couple of guys caught through bumpers at that age, even though he wasn’t express, but I remember him terrorising a few.”
O’Rourke’s statistics for the Auckland19s didn’t reflect how capable he was. He was frequently unplayable, and it was usually the bowler at the other end who profited after escaping O’Rourke’s intense barrage.
“The economy rate probably spoke more highly than the wickets, often being too good for players to hit,” Tillett says.
A move to Canterbury beckoned for his tertiary studies, but cricket has taken over.
O’Rourke snared 54 premier wickets (across all forms) for Burnside West in his first summer in Christchurch in 2020-21. The following season he earned the 16th and final contract for Canterbury.
“He turned up one night on a cold Wednesday night at Lincoln [upon arriving in Christchurch],” Donkers said.
“We were indoors and I soon said to [bowling guru] Dayle Hadlee that when a 6’6 guy walks through the door who can bowl quick we were pretty keen to get hold of him and do some work with him.”
Donkers and the Canterbury coaching staff weren’t presented with a classic bowling motion.
His action didn’t require complete remodelling, but several tweaks were necessary.
Making sure O’Rourke was running in tall, adding more fluidity to his run-up and getting his tempo right were among the changes. Getting him stronger in the gym and working hard on his fitness were other focuses.
“There were lots of little technical things we did. We made sure when he hit the crease he was utilising that height and he could control the force he was creating,” Donkers says.
“That’s where the strength and conditioning piece came in. It was lots of little things, then tinkering with his ball performance and again he was a fast learner.”
Canterbury coach Peter Fulton first crossed paths with O’Rourke when he was mentoring the New Zealand under-19 team before landing the Black Caps batting coach role in 2019. Fulton spent a year with the Black Caps and then took on the Canterbury job.
O’Rourke’s long frame immediately caught Fulton’s eye, who stands a centimetre taller at 1.98m.
“Fast bowling is one of those things where if you’ve already got the physical tools, the height, and you can generate bounce, it’s a lot easier to polish up the other things. You can’t make someone any taller,” Fulton says.
Being selected in the New Zealand A squad to tour Australia in September was a critical step for O’Rourke. He thrived against seasoned Australian state performers, finishing as New Zealand A’s top wicket-taker in the three List A matches, capturing seven at 10.42.
Donkers coached the New Zealand A team and says O’Rourke was the pick of the bowlers. “He equipped himself really well against a really strong Australian side, particularly in the white ball series. He’d dismiss some good batters.’’
A first-time call-up to the Black Caps came for the three-match home ODI series against Bangladesh in December. O’Rourke nabbed five wickets for the series.
Returning to domestic cricket, he showed his quality with career-best List A figures of 6-20 against Otago in the Ford Trophy.
Bowling to Australian standouts like Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Usman Khawaja, Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head will be the toughest test of his fledgling career. Fulton says O’Rourke won’t be daunted, relishing the chance to prove himself against the very best.
“I’m sure he’ll do a really good job, but it’s only hopefully going to be the start of his career.’’
“He wanted to play straight away, but I held him back until he was 7.” Patrick O’Rourke, right, on son Will, left