Before Steve O’Keefe had even bowled yesterday, Shane Warne summed up the spinner’s perception problem.
Many cricket followers have wondered why, despite his tremendous record, O’Keefe has played only two Tests.
With 191 first-class wickets at an average of 25, his record is far, far better than any other spinner in the country, Test veteran Nathan Lyon included. When he and Lyon have bowled together for NSW in the Sheffield Shield, O’Keefe has, overall, been the more effective bowler.
But history shows us that the Australian selectors are not convinced just by numbers, particularly when it comes to picking Test bowlers. If Shield statistics were more heavily weighted in their decisions then Victorian seamer Scott Boland would not be in the current Test squad ahead of the far more accomplished Jackson Bird and Chadd Sayers.
Sayers clearly is dogged by the perception that he is not swift enough to trouble Test batsmen. His record of 145 wickets at 25 in first-class cricket is remarkable when you consider he is based on the batsman’s paradise of Adelaide Oval.
Sayers’ problem, though, is that he is a medium pacer, operating in the 125-130kmh range, and in the modern era there have been few frontline quicks who have entered Test cricket bowling at that pace and had consistent success.
This is not just an Australian bias either. Take, for example, Chris Rushworth the Durham seamer and former North Kalgoorlie star. Rushworth has been one of the top five bowlers in county cricket for the past three seasons, and has almost 300 wickets at 23 in first class cricket.
Yet he can’t even get a game for England’s A side, the Lions, seemingly because the England selectors believe his Sayers-like medium pace wouldn’t have the edge needed to cut through Test line-ups.
Sometimes, regardless of how well a cricketer performs at the domestic level, national selectors believe that their method simply won’t hold up in Tests.
Which takes us to O’Keefe and Warne’s telling comments. Early in the first session of yesterday’s SCG Test, Warne said on the Channel Nine coverage that he was looking forward to watching O’Keefe bowl.
He then offered a scathing assessment of the spinner by saying that he hoped he would “actually spin the ball” instead of just bowling straight and being “defensive”. Warne followed that up by stating that a Test spinner needed to do more than that.
When O’Keefe’s puzzling lack of support from the selectors has been discussed on The Roar and other sports sites in the past, it often has been suggested that O’Keefe has a perception problem. Apparently, he had been too outspoken on the domestic scene and had ruffled too many feathers.
O’Keefe certainly wouldn’t be the first player to be kept on the outer because of a personality problem – just ask England’s Nick Compton.
Yet Warne honed in on the perception issue that is more damaging for O’Keefe – that his bowling method is not suited to Test cricket, no matter how successful it may be at domestic level.
The same way that few medium pacers have had success in the modern era of Tests, spinners struggle to be effective in anything but helpful conditions if they don’t give the ball a rip.
Unless the pitch is doing the work for them, a Test spinner must be able to bamboozle the batsman by getting heavy revolutions on the ball and making their deliveries loop tantalisingly, dip sharply, swerve deceptively and spin appreciably.
Most crucially, a Test spinner must be able to defeat batsmen through the air, something which is particularly important on true Australian tracks. As Warne suggested, O’Keefe doesn’t fit this mold.
He does not get much work on the ball. O’Keefe favours a flatter trajectory and the odd delivery he does toss up for variety does not have the kind of enticing arc that Lyon generates.
Perhaps in recognition that he doesn’t boast the same attacking tools as a bowler like Lyon, O’Keefe maintains a straighter, more defensive line. With commendable accuracy and patience, O’Keefe attacks the stumps and waits for the batsmen to make a mistake, as we saw yesterday.
The SCG pitch for this Test is tailormade for Lyon and O’Keefe, offering more turn from day one than we have seen from any Australian surface in many years. While Lyon was flighting his deliveries and pursuing wickets like a strike bowler, O’Keefe more often was skidding balls in towards the batsmen’s pads in the manner we often see from slow bowlers in ODIs and T20s.
In the Sheffield Shield, a competition with very few world-class players of spin, this approach reaps success season after season. It may also work at Test level.
The problem for O’Keefe is that the negative perception about his defensive bowling means he may never get a proper run at the highest level to prove himself.
JohnB
Guest
Armchair, I have to acknowledge you are correct and I am not. O'Keeffe was in the squad for the 2010 series against Pakistan played in England. That truly does constitute puzzling selection treatment, given he'd played 6 FC games and taken 17 wickets before that.
Armchair Expert
Guest
JohnB, so SOK was in the 2010 test squad to play Pakistan but wasn't in contention?, as for needing to play more than 3 shield games to be fit for test cricket, that's, that's a furphy. You better also name which test spinner before SOK had to play a full shield season before playing test cricket.
Don Freo
Guest
I have no intention of...nor the power to...control anyone's opinion. If you express an opinion on an opinion forum, Viv, you need not always expect agreement. It was a horrible thing to say about Warney. I was listening to an interview with him yesterday by Jo Hall and her told her that negative opinions of him by people that have never met him abound. He...and I...wonder why people like you feel a need to do that.
VivGilchrist
Guest
You Don do not like SOK, therefore his opinion suits. I believe SOK may have something to offer as he is successful in the worlds premier first class comp. If SOK can help the Aussies to be more successful particularly in the SC then he's worth a shot. I'm a fan of Warne and as a fan I honestly do believe that he loves the sound of his own voice. My opinion. You can't control the opinions of others Don. No need to question the knowledge of others to elevate yourself either.
Don Freo
Guest
"Warne loves the sound of his own voice" Your words, not mine. Your put down. Your cheap shot. Lift your game...or expect to have it challenged.
VivGilchrist
Guest
Don, I have never said I don't like Warne... selective hearing maybe? He is one of my favourites. I just don't always agree with him. You really should stop putting words in others peoples mouths to win an argument. The cheap shots are also quite lame.
JohnB
Guest
Armchair, you're shifting the goalposts. You started out agreeing with Ronan's statement that O'Keeffe was in contention for the test side way before 2012/13. That (and the suggestion that O'Keeffe's selection treatment was in some way "puzzling") is what I disagreed with. That he was NSW captain in 2012/13 is irrelevant to that, given it's the same season, as is his being captain in 2011/12 when he could take no more than 9 wickets in 7 games. Do you think that puts someone in contention? Seriously? Doing quite well in 2 or 3 games at the start of the 2010/11 season would have had him on the radar as evidenced by Australia A selection but he hadn't played enough or done enough to that point to be a real chance of getting in. "On the radar" is different from "in contention". Getting injured then and missing most of the season until the last 3 games doesn't step you up to being in contention and certainly is not enough to allow you to complain about not getting in a test side or to make it puzzling when you don't.
Don Freo
Guest
Warnie is not West Australian. If you don't hear cricket knowledge in Warnie's comments, you sre selectively deaf. He is a tactical genius and has a very discerning eye for talent...always well articulated in his reasoning. If you don't like him, you don't like him. That's probably because he is not South Australian. You seem to argue that it is because you know more about cricket than him. I haven't seen evidence of that in your comments.
VivGilchrist
Guest
No. No problem Don. I'm allowed to disagree with Warnie, it's only my opinion. I'm sure you have disagreed with legends before. I don't understand where you are going with the tall poppy thing though. I find your heavy WA bias terribly ugly as is most your passive agressive approach to anyone that doesn't worship your opinion.
Aransan
Guest
The numbers are meaningless in a sample size of 2. If you tossed a coin twice and came up with 2 heads would you conclude the coin was biased? There really is a lot of nonsense talked about with "statistics" in this forum.
Armchair Expert
Guest
JohnB, SOK was captain NSW in 2011/12 and 2012/13, so he played every game in those 2 seasons, unless injured, and if you think 9 wickets@52 is not good enough(his only bad season with the ball), Lyon took 24 wickets@53 over his first 3 shield seasons, yet was still a test regular ever year. SOK also played the last three shield games in 2010/11, he was still on the radar to play T20 for Australia after that, not sure why you say he was out of contention, as for Greg Matthews, at least he got a decent chance at test cricket.
Armchair Expert
Guest
SOK's numbers are still a lot better than Lyon's in their 2 tests together.
Don Freo
Guest
Outstanding in Shield. Great flight, turn and variation. While Hogg is there he is not getting much chance in BBL
Armchair Expert
Guest
How's Agar's bowling this season Don?
Armchair Expert
Guest
My issue with Warne is how he singles out certain players to criticize but others who have done worse seem to slide by without comment from him.
JohnB
Guest
Ronan, Armchair - you need to look a little deeper than the figures for 6 games in 2010/11 before saying someone was poorly treated by selectors. For example, why is it it was only 6 games? Prior to 2012/2013 in each season Steven O'Keeffe was one or both of not performing or in and out of the NSW because of injury or non-selection. Yes he did well in 2010/11 but it's just silly to say he was in contention before that (after all, before that he'd played 8 FC games and taken 26 wickets). The point you ignore is that in 2010/11 after good early performances he got injured. That's why he only managed 6 games for the season. If you're injured you may well be on the radar but you're not in contention. The following year, 2011/12, he managed the most games in a season that he had to that point - 7 - and took 9 repeat 9 wickets at 52. That goes pretty close to putting you off the radar, let alone out of contention. A decent season in 2012/13 put him back on the radar, then a breakthrough 2013/14 got him a test cap. Nothing puzzling in that if you ditch the preconceptions. Incidentally, there's little unusual or unheard of in the concept that a spinner can be successful at Shield level and not have that translate to the Test area, Greg Matthews being an example (and one whose figures for NSW are not that different from O'Keeffe's - 3.1 wickets per game at 28.6 compared to 3.1 wickets per game at 24.6). Will that be O'Keeffe's fate? Let's hope not.
Don Freo
Guest
The problem, here seems to be with you, Viv, not Warney. Tall poppy syndrome. The ugliest of all sports comment.
Don Freo
Guest
I rapt if Warney is involved behind the scenes. He knows his stuff. I think you are drowning in conspiracy theories, though, AC. "According to reports" is as shallow as TWaStation quoting the SMH as an authority. If Warney did push for Lyon ahead of SOK, that is further evidence of Warne's genius at work.
VivGilchrist
Guest
Warne loves the sound of his own voice and is a fan of the boys club mentality. Remember his recommendations to CA a few years back? He gave jobs to all his mates.
VivGilchrist
Guest
How do you spin a door knob?