O'Dowd was born in Auckland, New Zealand and attended Westlake Boys High School. His father, Alex O'Dowd, played first-classcricket for Auckland and Northern Districts. The holder of a Dutch passport through his mother, O'Dowd played English club cricket during the 2012 season, and then played for the Dutch under-19 side in the month-long 2012 European Challenge Series. His tournament included a five-wicket haul against Jersey, and two half-centuries. Back in New Zealand for the 2012–13 season, O'Dowd played every match for the Auckland under-19s in the National Under-19 Tournament. He again played club cricket in England in 2013, and also appeared in a single match in the Second Eleven Championship in the same season, playing for Nottinghamshire. O'Dowd played regularly for Auckland A during the 2014–15 New Zealand season, but is yet to play any matches for the senior team. For the 2015 season, he signed for the Northern Hurricanes franchise in the North Sea Pro Series, a professional league which features teams from the Netherlands and Scotland. In June 2015, O'Dowd made his senior debut for the Netherlands in an Intercontinental Cup match against Papua New Guinea, which held first-class status. He scored 14 in the first innings before being dismissed by Loa Nou, and in the second innings was out to Willie Gavera for a five-ball duck. In July 2019, he was selected to play for the Rotterdam Rhinos in the inaugural edition of the Euro T20 Slam cricket tournament. However, the following month the tournament was cancelled.
International career
Brought on to bowl in Papua New Guinea's second innings, he took the wicket of Lega Siaka with his fourth ball in first-class cricket, finishing with 1/44. O'Dowd had not been named in the initial squad for that match, but has been named in the Dutch squads for both the WCL Championship fixture against PNG and the 2015 World Twenty20 Qualifier. He made his List A debut in the WCL Championship against Scotland on 14 September 2015. In July 2018, he was named in the Netherlands' One Day International squad, for their series against Nepal, but he did not play. In June 2019, he was named in the Netherlands' ODI squad for their series against Zimbabwe. He made his ODI debut for the Netherlands against Zimbabwe on 19 June 2019. In September 2019, he was named in the Dutch squad for the 2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier tournament in the United Arab Emirates. In April 2020, he was one of seventeen Dutch-based cricketers to be named in the team's senior squad.
