Leo O'Connor

Leo Patrick Devereaux O'Connor (11 April 1890 – 16 January 1985) was an Australian first-class cricketer and Australian rules footballer. Best known for cricket, he captained and kept wicket for Queensland in the Sheffield Shield. However he also played 10 games with Essendon Football Club and was captain of the Queensland Australian rules football team between 1919-1922.

He was the first person to captain Queensland in both Australian rules football and cricket.

His son, Brian O'Connor, also played both cricket and Australian rules football for Queensland.

Early life and football Raised in Warracknabeal, Victoria he debuted with Essendon in the VFL in 1910 before moving to Queensland in 1911 where he captained the Valleys team in the Queensland Australian Football League from 1919-24. He was named captain of the Queensland team between 1919 and 1922.

Cricket He made his first appearance for Queensland in 1913 and was a regular for the state whenever they played a first class match over the following decade and a half. When Queensland made their Sheffield Shield debut in 1926-27 O'Connor was named as their inaugural captain.

Their first game was against New South Wales at Brisbane and with Queensland set 400 to win in the 4th innings he opened the batting and made 196 before being run out. He had been the last wicket to fall and Queensland fell just 8 runs short of the target.

Queensland travelled to Sydney the following week to play their away fixture and O'Connor scored a century in both innings, thus becoming the first Queenslander to do so in Shield history. It would be a good season for O'Connor with the bat, he finished with 731 runs at 66.45.