Thomas O’Connor certainly did.
He whacked an undefeated 84 from 90 balls to help drag Otago through to a memorable victory against Northern Districts in Dunedin on Saturday.
The win has kept the Volts’ title prospects alive.
Canterbury (91 points) registered a 279-run win against Central Districts and they lead the competition standings.
But Otago remains within striking distance on 83 points, and they have the 21-year-old left-armer to thank for it.
He has had a fabulous fortnight. O’Connor has taken 20 wickets in the last two games.
In case you are not too good at maths, that is half the maximum number of wickets he could have taken.
It is nothing short of extraordinary and has to rank alongside Hamish Rutherford’s incredible effort for Otago when he scored 607 runs in one mad month in March, 2012.
The following year, Rutherford scored 171 on test debut.
Could O’Connor be on a similar trajectory?
Volts coach Josh Tasman-Jones believes he has the ability to follow in the footsteps of his father, Shayne O’Connor, and play for his country.
‘‘Thomas is having an incredible start to his career,’’ Tasman-Jones said.
‘‘If he carries on like this, hopefully higher honours will be in his future.
‘‘I think what serves Thomas so well is he’s a pretty level. He’s well brought up... and he’ll keep his feet on the ground, and he’ll continue to work hard.
‘‘It’s a very bright start, but as we know, this game can level us pretty quickly. He’ll be keeping his feet firmly on the ground.
‘‘He’s just worrying about trying to win games for us at the moment, which he’s doing a pretty good job of, isn’t he? ‘‘
Yes. Yes, he is.
O’Connor nabbed seven wickets in the win against Northern Districts. But it was his swashbuckling knock with the bat that grabbed the headlines.
The Volts were 248 for four at tea and needed a further 105 runs for victory.
Troy Johnson (57) was trapped lbw by Scott Kuggeleijn shortly after the resumption, and Ben Lockrose was bowled for a duck by Zak Gibson.
The innings was teetering. But O’Connor was undaunted by the challenge.
He pulled Kuggeleijn for six to get off the mark, then had some luck when he sliced a drive over the slip cordon.
But he got in behind the ball nicely and played some sensible cricket for a period.
When the ball was there to hit, he went for it. Big time.
He swung away another delivery from Kuggeleijn to bring up his maiden first-class 50 from 76 balls.
His next major act will always form part of his cricketing story, no matter where he ends up.
He heaved Josh Brown for four consecutive sixes. Four bumpers. Four sixes.
Told you he swung hard.
Only Canterbury’s Lee Germon (5) has hit more consecutive sixes off an over in New Zealand first-class cricket , while Ken Rutherford and Craig McMillan also clubbed four consecutive sixes.
Max Chu secured the win with a crisp drive to the long-on boundary.
His undefeated knock of 71 was overshadowed but crucial nonetheless.
The pair put on an unbroken stand of 104 to clinch the four-wicket win.
‘‘We had a chat at tea time and we just said there’s going to be a window where ... we need to take the game on and try to take this away from them.
‘‘And sure enough, Thomas took the bull by the horns there and had a crack at it. And it came off for him, which was amazing.
‘‘But you can’t underestimate the value of having Max at the other end there.’’
Auckland (80 points) posted an eight-wicket win against Wellington and are still in contention with one round remaining.
They host Canterbury at Eden Park Outer Oval in a critical game beginning on Friday.
Otago has the home advantage against Wellington, who have lost six of their seven games this season.
Northern Districts (76 points) remains in the hunt. But the defending champions will need to beat Central Districts in Hamilton and hope for other results to go their way.
Plunket Shield
Standings
Canterbury....91
Otago....83
Auckland.....80
Northern Districts....76
Central Districts....70
Wellington....38
