SPINNER MOTORS ALONG LIKE A ‘HYUNDAI I30’ TO KEEP AUSTRALIA ON TOP
Harbhajan insists taking wickets for Australian spinner on that pitch was not hard
n motoring parlance, Australia spinner Steve O’Keefe is more reliable Korean car than prestige vehicle but his “happy” mental state makes him a great addition to the team garage, according to former England bowler Monty Panesar.
Recalled for just his fifth Test since his 2014 debut against Pakistan, O’Keefe took 12 wickets in the series-opening defeat of India, the biggest haul ever by a visiting spinner.
Fellow left-arm spinner Panesar, who hopes to restore his own stalled international career, was hired by Cricket Australia to work with the team’s spinners before the tour and he saw enough in 32-year-old O’Keefe to feel he could play a big role.
“When I first saw him, he asked me: ‘what do you think of my spin bowling?’ I said to him, ‘you’re like a Hyundai i30”, Luton-born Panesar told in an interview yesterday.
“You’re very much unassuming. You’re reliable. You get from A to B and you get the job done’.
“I remember telling (the team management) before they left for India, I said ‘I feel like O’Keefe will have the most impact’.
“That was my judgement and sometimes these things happen in cricket.” Panesar played the last of his 50 Tests at the Melbourne Cricket Ground during England’s 5-0 humiliation in the 2013/14 series but he returned Down Under last year to play grade cricket for Sydney club Campbelltown-Camden Ghosts.
Intelligent cricketer
He faced O’Keefe in a match against Manly-Warringah last month and lasted only three balls before becoming one of the Australian’s nine victims in the first innings.
O’Keefe had pulled out of the domestic ‘Big Bash’ Twenty20 competition to play more redball cricket in the lead-up to the India tour and Panesar was impressed with his application.
“We had a chat at the game and I had an opportunity to look at his bowling,” the 34-year-old said.
“He very much sets up batsmen and looks to get them out. He’s an intelligent cricketer. He knows his limitations but he’s happy.
“That’s what I was surprised by. He’s just happy with what he’s got and he just tries to make the best of that. He doesn’t try to be anyone else. He tries to be the best O’Keefe he can be.”
Forty-five Tests separate the left-armers, but O’Keefe and Panesar have shared a similar battle to overcome sceptics about their abilities and also survived brushes with indiscipline off-field.
When playing for county side Sussex in 2013, Panesar infamously urinated on a nightclub’s doormen and was fined by police for being drunk and disorderly.
O’Keefe was fined by his cricket board last August for a drunken incident involving security staff at a Sydney hotel soon after returning home injured from Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka.
The incident was a wakeup call for O’Keefe, who has steered clear of alcohol since and ploughed back into domestic cricket with renewed purpose.
“Sometimes there are people out there who criticise you and that’s a test of how much you want to make a comeback,” said Panesar, who has battled to get back to his best since shoulder surgery in late-2015.
Health issues
“And also it’s a test of your self-belief and confidence.
“O’Keefe was brilliant, he mentioned something happened in Manly and then he said to me it had been over 150 days that he hadn’t drunk.”
Panesar’s cricketing future remains up in the air but he is in a peaceful state of mind since opening up last year about his struggles with mental health issues.
O’Keefe’s effort in Pune had also added fuel to the fire for Panesar’s own hopes of reviving his England career.
“Very much so. It’s a great story and it inspires people like us in our thirties to make that comeback,” he said.
Steve O’Keefe was instrumental in helping Australia record one of the most famous Test victories in recent times but hosts India have been quick to put their heavy defeat down to the pitch in Pune rather than the 32-year-old spinner’s performance.
Indian batsmen have built a reputation for their prowess against the turning ball over the years but left-armer O’Keefe shattered that aura as Australia bulldozed the world’s top ranked Test team inside three days.
O’Keefe’s 12-wicket match haul, the best figures recorded by a visiting spinner on Indian soil, earned him the man-ofthe-match award but little else in terms of praise from the vanquished hosts.
India captain Virat Kohli blamed his side’s twin batting collapses on their recklessness, while others felt the turning track had backfired on them.
Out-of-favour off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who has had several run-ins with Australian players, said he was not convinced by O’Keefe’s performance and would need to see him in action on a better track.
“I will have to see [O’Keefe] bowl on a good Test match wicket. Not this one,” the 36-yearold, who had predicted a 4-0 series defeat for Australia, told reporters. “Until then, I will reserve my comments.”
O’Keefe and off-spinner Nathan Lyon combined to claim all 10 Indian wickets in the second innings to skittle out the hosts for 107, two more runs than they managed in the first, at a venue making its Test debut.
“To be honest, that wasn’t a pitch,” Singh, a veteran of 103 Tests, said of the surface used for the series opener.
“Test cricket should last five days. You cannot play on such wickets where anyone runs in to bowl and takes wickets. I have played in over 100 Tests, and I know how hard I had to work to earn every single wicket.” All O’Keefe had to do was to bowl faster through the air and be accurate, Singh said.
Accurate bowling
“You don’t need to flight the ball or anything. You just need to bowl fast and not give the batsmen room to either come down the track, or be able to manoeuvre the ball around.
“Bowling six deliveries in the same spot is all you need to get wickets on such tracks,” he added.
Former coach Ravi Shastri also felt O’Keefe was richly rewarded for his accuracy against the leaden-footed Indian batsmen.
“Steve O’Keefe was controlled and accurate while his preys looked for spin which wasn’t always there,” the former Test batsman wrote in a column that appeared in yesterday’s Times of India newspaper.
“They invariably ended up playing wrong lines. They didn’t use their feet much either ... It’s an issue which can’t be left pending even on fair tracks as even they would scruff up in second innings.
“Indians must find a way to break O’Keefe’s rhythm,” added Shastri.