Full Name

Stephen Norman John O'Keefe

Born

December 09, 1984, Malaysia

Age

39y 101d

Nicknames

Sock

Batting Style

Right hand Bat

Bowling Style

Slow Left arm Orthodox

Playing Role

Allrounder

Height

1.75 m

Education

Hobartville Primary; Richmond High

For a long time, it seemed Steve O'Keefe was to be one of the most unfortunate men in Australian cricket in the post-Shane Warne era. As a parade of 13 spinners were tried in the Test team, often with less-than-compelling first-class records, O'Keefe was left to toil away for New South Wales with far superior figures. His opportunity finally came when he was named in Australia's Test squad to play Pakistan in the UAE in 2014, following a summer in which he topped the Sheffield Shield wicket tally with 41 victims at 20.43. A left-arm orthodox bowler and solid lower-order batsman, O'Keefe could no longer be ignored; he had also been the leading Shield spinner in a pace-dominated 2012-13, with 24 wickets at 22.20. But he played only one Test on that UAE tour, then a washed out Test at the SCG against West Indies, then a single Test in Sri Lanka in 2016 before injury ended his tour, then a single Test at the SCG against Pakistan. Four series, four Tests, and no momentum. Finally, everything came together for O'Keefe when he played alongside Nathan Lyon in the first Test against India in Pune in February 2017, and used his accuracy and natural variation to plunder 12 for 70, the best figures ever by a visiting spinner in a Test in India.

He looked set to be Australia's number two spinner for future tours but an off-field alcohol indiscretion in 2017 seemingly ended such hopes yet he was surprisingly and controversially recalled for Australia's 2017 subsequent tour of Bangladesh despite being suspended by New South Wales at the time. Victorian rival Jon Holland was selected for Australia's next two overseas tours of South Africa and the UAE in 2018.

O'Keefe's performance in Pune should not be surprising. His bowling looks innocuous but he had been deceptively deadly for many years at first-class level. His initial chance in Australia's team came in seven T20s during the course of 2010 and 2011, but the longer format had always been where he had done his finest work. O'Keefe was born in Malaysia, where his father was working for the air force, and returned home as a toddler and grew into an Australia Under-19 representative in 2003-04. In 2010 he found himself in Australia's Test squad in England to play Pakistan, replacing the injured Nathan Hauritz, but Steven Smith - then viewed as a legspinner more than a batsman - was preferred in the Test team. O'Keefe was well-respected enough by New South Wales to be named the state's captain when Simon Katich stood down early in 2011-12, though he stood down from the captaincy towards the end of 2012-13 to focus on his own game.
ESPNcricinfo staff

Steve O'Keefe Career Stats

Batting & Fielding

FormatMatInnsNORunsHSAveBFSR100s50s4s6sCtSt
Tests913486259.5543319.860011000
T20Is75032226.4026123.07004110
FC881233123569925.60520645.2501223126320
List A5337961270*21.8574781.92013818220
T20s12956185435014.28487111.4901559370

Bowling

FormatMatInnsBallsRunsWktsBBIBBMAveEconSR4w5w10w
Tests91622281029356/3512/7029.402.7763.6021
T20Is7711414963/293/2924.837.8419.0000
FC881551764674233018/7712/7024.662.5258.615134
List A535121621753303/653/6558.434.8672.0000
T20s129122247727701194/104/1023.276.7020.8300
Stephen Norman John O'Keefe

Explore Statsguru Analysis

Test
T20I

Recent Matches of Steve O'Keefe

MatchBatBowlDateGroundFormat
Sixers vs Heat01/2624-Jan-2024SydneyT20
Sixers vs Heat--1/2319-Jan-2024CarraraT20
Sixers vs Thunder--3/1312-Jan-2024SydneyT20
Sixers vs Stars--0/2306-Jan-2024MelbourneT20
Sixers vs Heat--1/2003-Jan-2024Coffs HarbourT20

Photos of Steve O'Keefe

Steve O'Keefe celebrates the key wicket of Josh Brown
Steve O'Keefe was pumped
Ben Dwarshuis defended 18 runs off the final over to hand Sydney Sixers a one-run win
Steve O'Keefe collected career-best figures
Steve O'Keefe is congratulated by his team-mates
Players gather after Steve O'Keefe struck second ball