Panesar’s judgement of O’Keefe is spot on

melbourne — In motoring parlance, Australia spinner Steve O’Keefe is a more reliable Korean car than a 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 Reuters in an interview on Monday.

“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

I remember telling (the team management) before they left for India, I said ‘I feel like O’Keefe will have the most impact Monty Panesar

humiliation in the 2013/14 series but he returned Down Under last year to play grade cricket for Sydney club CampbelltownCamden Ghosts.

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 red-ball cricket in the leadup 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.”

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. —