New to Notts for 2025, Australian fast-bowling all-rounder Fergus O’Neill has enjoyed a meteoric rise in a few short years.
Despite being born in New Zealand, the 23-year-old grew up in Victoria and attended Maribyrnong College before working as a landscape gardener alongside his dad, Pete, whilst also plying his trade on the Australian Rules Football rules pitch.
Former Australian duo Adam Dale and Cameron White combined to supercharge O’Neill’s cricket career when they came across him at Melbourne Cricket Club.
He vindicated their faith. In the 2021/22 season he received the Paul Sheahan Club Champion Award for at Melbourne his all-round performance in the Victoria Premier League, averaging 19.31 with the ball and 42.33 with the bat that year.
The following season, he made his First-Class debut for Victoria against South Australia.
He has since taken 94 First-Class wickets at an average under 20, despite being just three years into his professional career.
No slouch with across disciplines, O’Neill has a top score of 70 and an average over 20 batting in the lower-middle order.
In 2023/24, he claimed 40 Sheffield Shield wickets at 17.25 - including a ten-wicket haul against South Australia - to win the club’s First-Class player of the season title.
For his exploits that year, O’Neill was awarded the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year at the Australian Cricket Awards.
This year, he already has 27 wickets from six matches in the Sheffield Shield, having also returned match figures of 5-84 for Australia A versus India A, with an average of just 16.80.
Far from a one-dimensional cricketer, O’Neill has 21 List A wickets at 25 apiece, whilst he was signed by the Melbourne Renegades for the Big Bash League last year.
He joins the Green and Golds for the first four Rothesay County Championship fixtures of the season.
He will be available for Nottinghamshire’s home fixtures against Durham, Essex and Sussex, in addition to the away trip to Edgbaston.
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