O'Keefe was born on 9 December 1984 in Malaysia to Stephen,who worked for the Royal Australian Air Force,and Jan,a nurse. His father was stationed in Malaysia at the time of his birth. The family,which also includes O'Keefe's sister Rebekah,later moved to Sale,Victoria and then to Richmond,New South Wales. O'Keefe taught at the Richmond High School during his early cricket career.[2]
On 8 August 2016,Steve O'Keefe was fined $10,000 by Cricket Australia after being issued with a criminal infringement notice by New South Wales Police following an incident at a Sydney hotel on 6 August 2016.[3]
O'Keefe was later fined $20,000 and suspended from the domestic Matador Cup following an alcohol-fueled incident in April 2017,in which he was reported to have made 'highly inappropriate comments' to New South Wales Breakers cricketer Rachael Haynes and her partner at Cricket NSW's Steve Waugh Medal function.[4][5]
Domestic career
O'Keefe currently plays as a spin bowler for the Sydney Sixers. He is also a handy batsman,and has previously opened the batting for the Sixers. O'Keefe picked up the first wicket for the 2016–17 Big Bash League season,taking the wicket of Sydney Thunder opening batsmen Kurtis Patterson who was caught by Doug Bollinger. O'Keefe is best known in the big bash during its fourth edition when he hit a last ball boundary of the bowling of Josh Lalor,to win a thriller against the Sydney Thunder which was Brett lee's final match at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
O'Keefe made his First-Class debut for New South Wales against Tasmania in November 2005.[6] O'Keefe took 2 wickets and scored 10 runs on debut. His first scoring shot was a six.
O'Keefe did not play first class cricket again until November 2009. Against Tasmania he took 3–101.[7] That summer he took 15 first class wickets at an average of 30.93,making him one of the better performing spinners in Australia.[8] He also made 247 runs at an average of 61.75.
In 2010–11 O'Keefe took 26 first class wickets at 20.57 with a best of 4–65. This saw him discussed as an international prospect,as Australian spin stocks were thin at the time.[9] The Australian selectors dropped Nathan Hauritz but used Xavier Doherty,Michael Beer and Steve Smith as spinners. O'Keefe was picked to play for Australia A.
O'Keefe struggled in 2011–12 only taking 9 first class wickets at an average of 52. The following summer was better –O'Keefe took 24 wickets at an average of 22.2. This made him the second highest wicket taking spinner in Australia,after Nathan Lyon but at a much better average.[10] He was considered a possibility as a backup spinner to Lyon on the 2013 tour of India.[11] However he was overlooked in favour of Xavier Doherty,who had taken two first class wickets that summer,and batting all rounder Glenn Maxwell,who had taken nine.[12] He also missed selection on the 2013 Ashes in favour of Ashton Agar.
O'Keefe's omission at international level was confusing to many. According to one report:
Over time there have been a range of reasons available on the rumour mill. He just bowls darts,some said. He's too chippy,was another explanation thrown out there. Yet another was a personality clash with an influential figure in the Australian set-up. The clash was very much true,but it being a reason for him being overlooked was only ever a theory. Whether his cause was further harmed,too,by his occasional bucking of the old-school maxim that you don't question selectors is unknown,too.[13]
In 2013–14 O'Keefe took 41 first class wickets at 20.43 including a best of 6–70. He finished the 2013/14 domestic Sheffield Shield season as the leading wicket taker for the NSW Blues,just edging out Western Australia's Jason Behrendorff. He was picked on the 2014 tour of the UAE to play Pakistan. Kerry O'Keeffe (no relation) said at the time:
It is a reward for some of the stuff he has done over the past two years. His numbers are undeniable so they obviously misread him somehow. They have been forced to pick him as he has kept putting them in the book... I think they had a perception of him that didn’t quite fit and the only way to change that perception was to take wickets. He has fought against a perception and broken it down. This should be his reward.[14]
O'Keefe made his Test debut.
In 2014–15 O'Keefe took 28 first class wickets at 23.21 with a best of 5–24. He was overlooked for selection on the 2015 tours of the West Indies and England in favour of Fawad Ahmed,who ultimately ended up playing no Tests. In 2015 he toured India with Australia A,taking 14 wickets at 20.07 with a best return of 6–82.
In 2015–16 O'Keefe took 20 first class wickets at 24.10. The Kochi Tuskers Kerala picked him up at the Indian Premier League auction for $20,000. In Sydney Grade Cricket he plays for Manly Warringah,although he originally played for Hawkesbury.
In April 2020,New South Wales did not renew his contract to play in the Sheffield Shield,O’Keefe announcing his retirement from first-class and List A cricket. However,O'Keefe continued to play for the Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash League.[15] O'Keefe won three BBL titles with the Sydney Sixers throughout his playing time with them. On 10 January,2024,O’Keefe announced his retirement from professional cricket[16] announcing he would cease playing at the end of the 2023/24 Big Bash League season. In his final season he helped to guide the Sydney Sixers to another final. Taking 8 wickets in 9 matches,[17] his final wicket being in a losing effort in the Big Bash Final,against the Brisbane Heat.[18]
International career
O'Keefe was called up to the Australian Test team to replace the injured Nathan Hauritz for the series against Pakistan in England,but did not play in the Tests. He made his Twenty20 international debut during the England tour. In the lead-up to the 2010–11 Ashes series,O'Keefe performed impressively taking 4/88 for 'Australia-A' in a tour game against a full strength English batting line up in Hobart.[19] These figures would remain the best by an Australian spinner all summer. [citation needed]
However he was consistently overlooked in favour of other spinners. In 2013 selector John Inverarity said "Steve O'Keefe is a very good cricketer. He's taken wickets,and he's a steady batsman. Whenever we've been at the selection table,we've marginally preferred other players to him. But he's still regarded as a good cricketer. We're very aware of his figures and we do look deeper than that. But there's a panel of five of us and there's a consistency of view when we select the spinners."[20]
He made his Test match debut for Australia against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates on 22 October 2014.[21] He was Australian Test Cap number 439. O'Keefe took 2/107 in the first innings and 2/112 in the second,claiming Asad Shafiq as his first Test victim.
In Australia's second innings of the first Test versus Sri Lanka at Pallakele in 2016,Stephen O'Keefe along with Peter Nevill set the record for the slowest partnership for any wicket in Test history,scoring 4 runs from 178 balls/29.4 overs with a scoring run rate of just 0.13 runs per over,which is also the lowest spanning at least 100 or more balls. O'Keefe scored those four crucial runs,a boundary.[22][23][24] After this match,O'Keefe had to return home due to an injury to his hamstring.
On 24 February 2017,he took his first 5-wicket haul in a Test match,against India at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium,6/35 where India were all out for 105 runs in the first innings. At the time,this was India's worst collapse in any Test match,losing their last seven wickets for eleven runs.[25] He then repeated the same figures (6/35) in the second inning a day later,as Australia won by 333 runs.[26] His match figures of 12/70 were the second best bowling by a visiting bowler in a Test in India. This was the second time in the history of Test cricket that a bowler had recorded six wickets and an identical number of runs in both innings of a Test after B. S. Chandrasekhar of India,who had figures of 6/52 in both innings in 1977,coincidentally against Australia at the MCG,with O'Keefe's figures setting the record for the best identical bowling figures in Test history.[27][28][29]
Jason Neil Gillespie is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer who played all three formats of the game. Gillespie is currently the head coach of the Pakistan men's team in the test cricket.
The Border–Gavaskar Trophy is an International Test cricket trophy played between India and Australia. The series is named after distinguished former captains,Australia's Allan Border and India's Sunil Gavaskar. It is played via Test series scheduled using International Cricket Council's Future Tours Programme. The winner of a Test series wins the trophy. If a series is drawn,the country holding the trophy retains it. Given the competitive nature of the India-Australia rivalry and the high standings of both teams,the Border-Gavaskar trophy is considered to be one of the most prestigious bilateral trophies in world cricket.
Stuart Charles Glyndwr MacGill is an Australian former cricketer who played 44 Test matches and three One Day Internationals for the Australian national cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler,who has been credited with having the best strike rate of any modern leg-spin bowler,but he did not have a regular place in the Australian Test team due to the dominance of Shane Warne in the position of sole spinner.
George Bradley Hogg is a former Australian cricketer who played all formats of the game. He was a left-arm wrist spin bowler,and a lower-order left-handed batsman.
Nathan Michael Hauritz is a former Australian cricketer who has represented Australia in Tests,One-dayers and Twenty20 Internationals. He is mainly noted for his off spin bowling. He was a part of the Australian squad which won the 2003 Cricket World Cup.
Bruce Yardley was an Australian cricketer who played in 33 Test matches and seven One Day Internationals between 1978 and 1983,taking 126 Test wickets.
Peter Raymond Sleep is a former Australian cricketer who played 14 Test matches for Australia between 1979 and 1990.
Edward Ernest Hemmings is a former English cricketer,who played in 16 Test matches and 33 One Day Internationals for the England cricket team between 1982 and 1991. He made his England debut relatively late in his career,at the age of 33,having predominantly represented Nottinghamshire in the County Championship. His chance came when several England players announced their intention to go on a rebel cricket tour to South Africa. He was a part of the English squad which finished as runners-up at the 1987 Cricket World Cup.
Moisés Constantino Henriques is an Australian international cricketer who plays for Australia,New South Wales and the Sydney Sixers. An all-rounder,he is the first cricketer born in Portugal to play for Australia in an international match.
Steven Peter Devereux Smith is an Australian international cricketer and former captain of the Australian national team in all three formats of the game. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Test batsmen since Don Bradman. Smith was a member of the Australian teams that won the 2015 and 2023 Cricket World Cup,the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup,and the 2023 ICC World Test Championship final.
Shane Keith Warne was an Australian international cricketer whose career ran from 1992 to 2007. Widely considered to be one of the greatest cricketers of all time,Warne played as a right-arm leg spin bowler and a lower-order right-handed batsman for Victoria,Hampshire,the Melbourne Stars and Australia. Warne also played for and coached the Rajasthan Royals,including captaining the team to victory in the inaugural season of the IPL.
Rachael Louise Haynes is an Australian former international cricketer who has won six world championships as a member of the national women's team. A left-handed batter,Haynes was vice-captain of Australia from 2017 to 2022. Domestically,she achieved prolonged success in the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL) and the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL),winning seven titles with New South Wales and two with the Sydney Thunder.
Nicolas James Maddinson is an Australian cricketer. He is a left-handed opening batsman who has represented Australia in both Test matches and Twenty20 Internationals. Domestically he plays for the Victoria cricket team and the Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash League,previously having played for New South Wales,Melbourne Stars and Sydney Sixers.
Nathan Michael Lyon is an Australian international cricketer. He made his Test debut in 2011 and plays domestic cricket for New South Wales. Lyon is an off-spin bowler and a lower-order right-handed batsman. Considered the most successful off-spin bowler of all time for Australia,Lyon holds the record for the most Test wickets taken by an Australian off-spin bowler,passing Hugh Trumble's 141 wickets in 2015. In January 2021,Lyon played in his 100th Test match during Australia's series against India. As of December 2023,Lyon is Australia's third highest test wicket taker of all time and ranks eighth among all international players in test cricket with over 500 wickets to his name. Lyon was a member of the Australian team that won the 2023 ICC World Test Championship final.
Peter Michael Nevill is an Australian former cricketer who played 17 Tests and 9 T20 internationals for Australia. He also represented New South Wales and the Melbourne Stars,having previously played for the Melbourne Renegades and the Sydney Sixers. He was Australia's regular Test wicket-keeper from the second test of 2015 Ashes series until being dropped in November 2016. He made his Twenty20 International debut for Australia against South Africa on 4 March 2016. He retired in April 2022.
Hilton William Raymond Cartwright is a Zimbabwean born Australian international cricketer who plays for Western Australia and the Melbourne Stars. He is a right-handed all-rounder. Cartwright made his Test debut for the Australian national team in January 2017,having earlier played for Australia A and the National Performance Squad. In January 2017 he won the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year prize awarded by Cricket Australia.
Ashton Charles Agar is an Australian cricketer who plays all forms of the game at international level. Agar plays domestically for Western Australia and the Perth Scorchers. A left-handed spin bowler,he played two Test matches for the Australian national side during the 2013 Ashes series and 5 Test matches in his career. Agar was also a member of the Australian team that won the 2021 T20 World Cup in Dubai and Oman.
Travis Michael Head is an Australian international cricketer. He is contracted to South Australia and the Adelaide Strikers for domestic matches,as well as the team Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He is an aggressive left-handed batsman who usually opens in limited overs and in the middle-order in Tests. He is also a part-time right arm off-spin bowler. He was formerly a co vice-captain of the Australian national team in Tests from January 2019 to November 2020 but then renamed again as co vice-captain alongside Steve Smith at the beginning of the 2023 series against Pakistan.
Adam Zampa is an Australian international cricketer who represents Australian cricket team in limited-overs cricket. Zampa was a member of the Australian teams that won the 2023 Cricket World Cup and the 2021 T20 World Cup. He is also the highest wicket-taker for Australia in Twenty20 International.
Ashleigh Katherine Gardner is an Australian cricketer who currently plays for the national women's team as an all-rounder. A right-handed batter and right-arm off spinner,Gardner also plays for New South Wales in the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL),for the Sydney Sixers in the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) and for the Gujarat Giants in the Women's Premier League (WPL). She has won three world championships and four national titles with her respective teams,while also gaining numerous individual honours,including the Belinda Clark Award.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
