Overview
Kevin Joseph O'Brien (born 4 March 1984) is an Irish cricket coach and former cricketer. A right-handed middle to lower order batsman and right-arm medium-fast bowler known for his aggressive style, he represented Ireland across all three formats and announced his retirement from international cricket on 16 August 2022.
At domestic level, O'Brien played for Leinster and Railway Union Cricket Club in Ireland, and turned out for Nottinghamshire in 2009. He made his One Day International debut in 2006 in Ireland's inaugural ODI. In 2010, he was awarded a contract with Cricket Ireland, becoming one of six players to hold a full-time contract with the board at that stage.
O'Brien is best remembered for scoring the then-fastest century in 50-over World Cup history, reached from 50 balls, against England on 2 March 2011; the record was later surpassed. He was among the eleven cricketers selected for Ireland's first ever Test match, against Pakistan in May 2018, and scored the first Test century for the Ireland men's team. He also became the first sportsperson from Ireland to represent his country in 300 matches and was the first Ireland bowler to take 100 wickets in ODIs.
O'Brien was awarded a central contract by Cricket Ireland for the 2019 season, being one of nineteen players named. In January 2020, he was again among nineteen players to receive central contracts, in the first year that all such contracts were issued on a full-time basis. In June 2021, he announced his retirement from ODI cricket in order to focus on Test and T20 formats, before retiring from international cricket altogether the following year.
References
Adapted from the English Wikipedia article on Kevin O'Brien (cricketer).