John Francis Martin O'Brien (born 25 May 1961) is a former English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

er. O'Brien was a right-handed batsman who bowled slow left-arm orthodox. He was born in Birkenhead

Birkenhead

Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...

, Cheshire

Cheshire

Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...

.

O'Brien made his debut for Cheshire

Cheshire County Cricket Club

Cheshire County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Cheshire and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy...

 in the 1986 Minor Counties Championship against Dorset

Dorset County Cricket Club

Dorset County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Dorset and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy...

. O'Brien played Minor counties cricket for Cheshire from 1986 to 1995, including 71 Minor Counties Championship matches and 18 MCCA Knockout Trophy

MCCA Knockout Trophy

The Minor Counties Cricket Association Knockout Cup was started in 1983 as a knockout one-day competition for the Minor Counties in English cricket...

 matches. In 1987, he made his List A debut against Glamorgan

Glamorgan County Cricket Club

Glamorgan County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Glamorgan aka Glamorganshire . Glamorgan CCC is the only Welsh first-class cricket club. Glamorgan CCC have won the English County...

 in the NatWest Trophy

1987 NatWest Trophy

The 1987 NatWest Trophy was the 7th NatWest Trophy. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 24 June and 5 September 1987...

. He played seven further List A matches for Cheshire, the last of which came against Essex

Essex County Cricket Club

Essex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Essex. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles, their team colours this season are blue.The club plays most of its home games...

 in the 1995 NatWest Trophy

1995 NatWest Trophy

The 1995 NatWest Trophy was the 15th NatWest Trophy. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 27 June and 2 September 1995...

. In his eight List A matches, he scored 61 runs, with a high score of 14*

Not out

In cricket, a batsman will be not out if he comes out to bat in an innings and has not been dismissed by the end of the innings. One may similarly describe a batsman as not out while the innings is still in progress...

. With the ball he took 11 wickets at a bowling average

Bowling average

Bowling average is a statistic measuring the performance of bowlers in the sport of cricket.A bowler's bowling average is defined as the total number of runs conceded by the bowlers divided by the number of wickets taken by the bowler, so the lower the average the better. It is similar to earned...

 of 26.36. His best figures of 4/40 came against Derbyshire

Derbyshire County Cricket Club

Derbyshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the England and Wales domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Derbyshire...

 in the 1988 NatWest Trophy

1988 NatWest Trophy

The 1988 NatWest Trophy was the 8th NatWest Trophy. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 22 June and 3 September 1988...

.

He also played Second XI cricket for the Warwickshire Second XI

Warwickshire County Cricket Club

Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Warwickshire. Its limited overs team is called the Warwickshire Bears. Their kit colours are black and gold and the shirt sponsor...

 in 1988.

External links

• John O'Brien at ESPNcricinfo
• John O'Brien at CricketArchive
  CricketArchive
  CricketArchive is a website that aims to provide a comprehensive archive of records relating to the sport of cricket. It claims to be the most comprehensive cricket database on the internet, including scorecards for all matches of first-class cricket , List A cricket , Women's Test cricket and...