North Adelaide's Creagh O'Connor recognised for his dedication to cricket

IN THE summer of 1947, 10-year-old Creagh O'Connor headed to Adelaide Oval with his father, Frank, to watch his first game of cricket.

IN the summer of 1947, 10-year-old Creagh O'Connor headed to Adelaide Oval with his father, Frank, to watch his first game of cricket.

"SA was playing the MCC and I remember Washbrook and Hutton going out to bat," Mr O'Connor, now 76, says.

"I suppose I have to say I loved the uncertainty of it ... it was just a game I liked."

The match would go on to ignite a commitment to the sport spanning more than six decades.

The North Adelaide man has dedicated his life to cricket, serving on numerous boards including the South Australian Cricket Association and Cricket Australia, where he was chairman for four years.

Mr O'Connor grew up admiring cricketers Sir Donald Bradman, Arthur Morris and Neil Harvey ("both left-handed like myself", he says) and went on to play cricket for his local club at Kensington for several years, though Mr O' Connor insists he's not being modest when he says he wasn't a good player.

"I'm being factual."

So life on the green wasn't on the cards for Mr O'Connor, who went on to spend 30 years in the engineering industry- but he found his place on the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA Board) after then-president Jim Grose (a buddy from Kensington) invited him to join.

He became director in 1991, a role he would keep for the next two decades.

Mr O'Connor, a father of five (Creagh, Andrew, Tim, Edwina and Rachel) and grandfather of 16, counts his time as Cricket Australia chairman from 2005 to 2008 as a major highlight.

"But I wouldn't have been able to spend all this time on cricket without the support of my family," he adds.

From 2006-2008, he was director of the Kerry Packer Cricket Foundation, providing assistance to former cricketers and new players and he is an honorary life member of SACA and former member of the Adelaide Oval Stadium Management Authority.

He was also on the board of Calvary Hospital and the Flinders Medical Research Foundation and chairman of Adelaide Community Healthcare Alliance.