“KJ’s got me by a fair bit. He’s a big man, KJ!”
New Zealand fast bowler Will O’Rourke is responding to a question about who is taller between him and Kyle Jamieson. O’Rourke is six feet four inches, while Jamieson, at six feet eight, is the tallest man to ever play international cricket for New Zealand.
The Black Caps’ grand plan to counter Bazball involves unleashing their two beanpole quicks on the hosts in potentially seam-friendly conditions in England and having them bowl in tandem for the first time in Test cricket.
“Yeah, it’s bloody exciting,” O’Rourke says before departing for the UK. “I think I actually haven’t played too much cricket with KJ over the last few years, though we’ve both been in Canterbury. So, yeah, it’s special to get my ODI cap from him, and it’s been good to be around him for the last few years. If we both get the nods, it’ll be a pretty special moment for both of us to be out there bowling together [at Lord’s].”
A serious back stress fracture then knocked him down, and during that period he sought the advice of Jamieson, who has had to deal with multiple back injuries during his career.
“I guess having someone like that in the corner who understands what you’re going through, and, you know, how you’re itching to get out there, it is always good.” O’Rourke says. “KJ is a good mate – so to bounce [ideas] off him and catch up with coffees is always good.”
O’Rourke says his release point, “closer to vertical than the typical outswing bowler will be”, is perhaps his key strength•Hannah Peters/AFP/Getty Images
Considering Jamieson’s history of injuries, New Zealand Cricket was extremely cautious with O’Rourke too, putting him through an eight-month spell in rehab. O’Rourke spent the first three months on his couch before taking up pilates, which he had never done before, and strengthening his core. He was held back for the recent one-off Test in Ireland, but will be good to go in London, a city he is familiar with.O’Rourke was born there to New Zealander parents and lived in the UK until he was around five years old, when he moved to New Zealand and followed his father Patrick O’Rourke’s footsteps into New Zealand domestic cricket.
The Lord’s Test is shaping up to be a family affair for the O’Rourkes. “Yeah, Mum and Dad are flying over,” O’Rourke says. “My brother Ollie, who works as an architect in London, will hopefully be able to make it for a few days when he isn’t working.
“I actually don’t remember much of my childhood there. But it’s a pretty cool space. I’ve been back to London a few times and love it there. My brother lives over there. And obviously Lord’s is probably the No. 1 place in the world any cricketer wants to play at. So it’ll be a cool experience.”
O’Rourke can move the ball at sharp pace – at his best he can breach 140kph – but his ability to generate sharper bounce and target the batter’s nose is his biggest strength. New Zealand have other bowlers, like Matt Henry, Zak Foulkes, Nathan Smith and Blair Tickner, who all can bowl swing-seeking balls at the toes, making their attack a particularly well-rounded one.
“I think it’s probably my bounce,” O’Rourke says. “I think the pace… some days you’re feeling better than others, [so] that can be there or not be as quick as you want to be. So I think just with the way my release goes, it’s a little bit unique. And I guess closer to vertical than the typical outswing bowler will be. So, yeah, I think just the bounce I get out of the wicket tends to be my most dangerous attribute.”
Tall and fast, times two: O’Rourke, second from right, with team-mates, including fellow beanpole Kyle Jamieson, during the Champions Trophy last year•Surjeet Yadav/Getty Images
In the subcontinent in 2024, O’Rourke demonstrated that he could adjust his lengths smoothly and bring the stumps into play more when conditions required it. He didn’t have as much clarity or variety when he entered the Canterbury domestic set-up in New Zealand, but was always the kind of bowler capable of creating oohs and aahs.
O’Rourke actually moved from Auckland to Canterbury for his tertiary studies, but was also looking for opportunities to play cricket during the winter. When Paul Wiseman, NZC’s talent identification manager, put him in touch with Canterbury, Peter Fulton, who was the team’s coach at the time, and Brendon Donkers, a high-performance development coach, were immediately impressed by his height and Jamieson-esque release point, but his action needed some fine-tuning.
Back in the day O’Rourke’s bowling action was so awkward that Donkers likened him to a newborn giraffe on skates.
“My body was all over the place. My arms and legs were going everywhere,” O’Rourke says. “Donkers was massive for me and he recognised that early on. My action wasn’t where it needed to be at a professional level and my momentum wasn’t going towards my target.
“Our main focus was to straighten out the action. Sometimes you just have these coaches that you click with and he was definitely one of those for me. I could resonate with the things he suggested and a big credit to him for the way I developed at Canterbury.”
Less than two years after making his Canterbury debut, O’Rourke was elevated to New Zealand’s ODI and Test teams. He had the wider world sit up and take notice of him when he bounced Virat Kohli out in his very first over in India, in that Bengaluru Test in October 2024.
Bang on in Bengaluru: O’Rourke took seven in the first Test in the series New Zealand famously swept in India in 2024•BCCI
“I do remember the Kohli one. Yeah, that’s definitely right up there. It’s one of the best I’ve got,” O’Rourke says. “We sort of saw [the ball] was nipping around quite a lot, and there was actually bounce in that wicket. “So with my sort of angle back in, we put a [leg gully] there. One ball jagged and took off. It was probably the luck of the draw. I could probably bowl to Kohli for a long time and never get him out like that again.”
“So I played at Trent Bridge on a used hybrid wicket with the Kookaburra ball,” O’Rourke says. “It wasn’t the most fun four-day I’ve ever played in my life. I think we bowled first and bowled for about 120 overs [132.4] and then batted for about 160 [185.4] and we had a draw. So that was a tough grind.”
Having enjoyed success in India and gained some perspective during his time on the sidelines, O’Rourke feels he is better prepared for the upcoming red-ball grind. New Zealand are scheduled to play India at home and to visit Australia later this year.
“We’ve obviously got a hell of a Test schedule coming up with England and India at home and then going away to Australia,” he says. “There’s no secret that we want to go out there and compete. And we want to be nearing the top of that World Test Championship leaderboard. So, a series win in India gives us good confidence to go there and compete with anyone.”
Deivarayan Muthu and Alagappan Muthu are senior sub-editors at ESPNcricinfo
