[2] O'Connor was born at Hastings in the Hawke's Bay Region into a farming family.
[5] O'Connor played 57 times for the New Zealand national cricket team, including taking a five-wicket haul in the semi-final of the 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy.
[6] He retired from cricket at the age of 29 in 2003, opting to take up an opportunity to establish a business at Alexandra in Central Otago.
Ahead of the 2024–25 season he was formally appointed to the match referees panel.
This biographical article related to a New Zealand cricketer born in the 1970s is a stub.