Steve OKeefe

Steven O'Keefe was the beneficiary of injuries to first choice spinners when he was picked for Australia-A. He impressed immediately scoring a fifty and picking seven wickets against Sri Lanka A.

This led to him being drafted into the Test squad for the series against Pakistan in England in 2010. He came in as a cover for the injured Nathan Hauritz but did not play any Test. He made his T20I debut in the same season, against Pakistan and caught a few eyes immediately picking three wickets in the game. His other claim to fame was when he took 4/88 against a full strength England squad just before the 2010 Ashes in a practice game. No other Aussies spinner managed to match these figures in the rest of the summer. He was also picked up by Kochi Tuskers Kerala for the fourth edition of the IPL for a price of $20,000. However, he didn't play any game and never got an IPL contract since then.

O'Keefe stayed in the fringes of national selection and a belated Test call-up came up in 2014 as he debuted against Pakistan in Dubai, October 2014. With Nathan Lyon well settled as the ace spinner, O'Keefe has had to wait for his chances - which are few and far between in this pace heavy Australian squad. In 2016, on Australia's tour to Sri Lanka, O'Keefe claimed the unique record of the slowest ever partnership for any wicket in Test cricket after sharing a 4-run stand off a whopping 178 deliveries with Peter Nevill.

Given an opportunity as the second spinner during the tour of India, O'Keefe stunned the hosts batsmen into submission - his match-winning figures of 12 for 70 helped Australia go 1-0 ahead in the 4-match Test series against India in Pune. It turned out to be a an one-off effort and O'Keefe struggled for the same kind of impact for the rest of the series.

He was eventually dropped from the squad for the tour of Bangladesh - a move that he said could have been the end of his career. Fortunately for him, an injury to Josh Hazlewood opened up a spot and O'Keefe was asked to join the squad for the final Test and this eventually would be his last.

In the BBL, O'Keefe stuck with the Sydney Sixers all the way from the inaugural season in 2011/12 up until his retirement in the 2023/24 season.