Kerry O'Keeffe

Kerry O'Keeffe

Personal information
Full name	Kerry James O'Keeffe
Born	(1949-11-25) 25 November 1949 Hurstville, New South Wales, Australia
Nickname	Skull
Batting style	Right-hand bat
Bowling style	Legbreak googly
Role	leg-spinner
International information
National side	Australia
Test debut (cap 254)	21 January 1971 v England
Last Test	28 July 1977 v England
ODI debut (cap 34)	2 June 1977 v England
Last ODI	6 June 1977 v England
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1968/9-1975/6 & 1979/80	New South Wales
1971-2	Somerset
Career statistics
Competition Test ODIs FC List A Matches 24 2 169 39 Runs scored 644 16 4,169 305 Batting average 25.76 16.00 26.05 15.25 100s/50s -/1 -/- 0/13 -/- Top score 85 16* 99* 35 Balls bowled 5384 132 31,052 1,431 Wickets 53 2 476 27 Bowling average 38.07 39.50 28.11 32.70 5 wickets in innings 1 - 24 - 10 wickets in match - n/a 5 n/a Best bowling 5/101 1/36 7/38 3/16 Catches/stumpings 15/- -/- 112/- 7/-
Source: Cricinfo, 10 November 2012

Kerry James O'Keeffe (born 25 November 1949, Hurstville, New South Wales) is a former Australian cricketer and a former commentator for Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Radio. O'Keeffe played 24 Tests and 2 ODIs between 1971 and 1977.

Playing career

He was a spin bowler, bowling leg breaks. He never quite lived up to early expectations of being the next great Australian leg spin bowler, taking 53 wickets at an average of 38.07. He made his Test debut against England in the Fifth Test of the 1970-71 Ashes series after taking 6/69 and hitting 55 not out in the New South Wales match against the tourists, but did little and was dropped. Recalled for the vital Seventh Test on the spinning SCG pitch he took 3/48 and 3/96, but it was not enough to win the game and save The Ashes. He did however have some success with the bat averaging 25.76 and being called upon to open the batting in the second innings of the Centenary Test. One statistic that O'Keeffe himself uses to demonstrate his lack of penetration with the ball is that he is the bowler with the highest percentage of wickets out 'caught' in the history of Test match cricket (44 out of 53 wickets, 84%) This is typical of his commentating style of making fun of his bowling abilities. He often talks of an incident during the 1972 Australian tour of England, when he appealed against a batsman for leg before wicket, and the umpire turned him down, saying that the ball was "doing too much", meaning that the ball was spinning so much that it would have turned away from the stumps. O'Keeffe said that the umpire's comment was a sarcastic jibe at his inability to spin the ball, something he likes to mock himself about.

Post-playing career

O'Keeffe had varied careers post-cricket including as a commentator on ABC Radio and occasionally the Nine Network. He was known for his humorous anecdotes, told in the manner of an after dinner speech at a cricketers club, and his distinctive laugh. He especially seemed to enjoy working with overseas commentators such as India's Harsha Bhogle whom he enjoyed confusing with his colourful Australian language. However when he concentrated on the game he showed insight born of a career at the highest level together with study of the statistics and history of the game.

In 2004 he released his autobiography According to Skull. He has also released a number of CDs containing some shorts of his commentating antics.

On 27 December 2013, while providing commentary on the Melbourne Boxing Day Test between Australia and England, O'Keeffe announced his retirement from commentating after the Sydney Test in January 2014.

External links

• Cricinfo article on Kerry O'Keeffe
• Kerry O'Keeffe's Biography on ICMI Sport Speakers
• Kerry O'Keeffe tells joke during Aus v Sri Lanka Final ODI at Gabba 2006