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Vinay Kumar’s maiden century took Karnataka’s lead beyond 300 and left Punjab battling to avoid defeat

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy in Hubli16-Dec-2013
Scorecard
File photo: Vinay Kumar struck his maiden first-class century•AFPIn the morning, Punjab had watched him score an unbeaten 105 against their tiring attack and extend Karnataka’s lead to 331. Deep in the final session, just when they hoped they could see out the day with a pair of set batsmen at the crease, Vinay Kumar returned to uproot Taruwar Kohli’s off stump.The fifth-wicket partnership between Taruwar and Gurkeerat Singh had only been the second in both Punjab innings to last over 100 balls. In the morning, Vinay had spent 148 balls in the company of last man HS Sharath before declaring Karnataka’s innings at 505 for 9.Gurkeerat played a few defiant strokes late in the day – a square cut off Vinay, and drives for four either side of cover off successive deliveries from Stuart Binny – to stay unbeaten on 56 but Punjab remained deep in trouble, five down and 175 behind.Karnataka’s first wicket came from a brilliant bit of fielding in the sixth over. Manan Vohra cut HS Sharath hard and faultlessly, from the coaching manual’s perspective. He had got on top of the bounce and the ball was inches from the ground when Ganesh Satish – crouched close to the bat at an unorthodox short point – got his right hand under it.Satish was the catcher again, three overs later, when an effort ball from Abhimanyu Mithun found Uday Kaul late on a pull. Kaul was less than halfway into his stroke when the ball hit him high on the bat and popped to short leg. Punjab were 21 for 2 after 8.1 overs.Mandeep Singh had watched a number of his team-mates throw their wickets away in Punjab’s first innings as he finished unbeaten on 32. Now, it was his turn to play an injudicious stroke. On 12, he chased a full, wide ball and edged Mithun to wicketkeeper CM Gautam, who held on after a juggle.Punjab went to tea 68 for 3, with opener Jiwanjot Singh on 32. Jiwanjot, who was coming off a double-century against Vidarbha, had looked entirely at ease, and had struck six fours, including two effortless flicks off Mithun in one over. Perhaps he, Punjab must have thought, could bat them out of this hole.He couldn’t. Jiwanjot hadn’t added any runs to his score when Mithun, running in to start the fourth over after tea, got one to jag back and trap him LBW.The pitch still looked good to bat on. Left-arm spinner KP Appanna got one to bounce extra and had a caught-behind appeal turned down off Taruwar, and Gurkeerat pulled his bat out of the way as Sharath got one to lift off the seam, but such moments were rare, and both batsmen looked largely untroubled before Vinay struck late in the day.Vinay, on 29 overnight, had started the day full of aggressive strokes, a particular highlight being a backfoot punch in front of point off Sandeep Sharma the ball after he’d brought up his half-century. After Mithun’s dismissal, Appanna batted in the same manner before he was out for a 46-ball 45.After that, Punjab spread their fields against Vinay, often stationing six men on the rope for him. Vinay kept refusing singles early in the over, even though last man HS Sharath didn’t look troubled when he did get the strike, and even though Karnataka’s lead had ballooned beyond 300.It went on in this manner till Vinay flicked a single to deep square leg off VRV Singh to reach his maiden first-class century. His previous best had been 61. Lunch, and the declaration, came a few minutes later. The respite for Punjab didn’t.

Pakistan turned a Test that had been an abysmal advertisement for cricket for four days and one session on its head, with an incredible batting performance after lunch on the final day, when they scored 302 runs in 57.3 overs to sucker-punch Sri Lanka

The Report by George Binoy20-Jan-2014
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsAzhar Ali’s hundred helped Pakistan pull off one of the great chases in Test cricket•AFPPakistan turned a Test that had been an abysmal advertisement for cricket for four days and one session on its head, with an incredible batting performance after lunch on the final day, when they scored 302 runs in 57.3 overs to sucker-punch Sri Lanka and level the series. Their run-rate of 5.25 was the second highest in a successful chase of a 200-plus target, and the protagonists of this heist – Azhar Ali, Sarfraz Ahmed and Misbah-ul-Haq – proved that the soporific pace of the previous days was entirely by design, largely Sri Lanka’s to protect their 1-0 lead.For the fifth day to have ended in a result, both teams needed to play extraordinary cricket. Pakistan were extraordinarily purposeful; Sri Lanka were extraordinarily negligent. The visitors began the day with a lead of 220 and five second-innings wickets in hand but batted so slowly, adding 19 runs in the last 16.4 overs. With a minimum of 59 overs left in two sessions Sri Lanka were still favourites, if not to win then certainly to draw, but they were ultra-defensive from the outset against a desperate Pakistan unit. As Misbah-ul-Haq’s side motored towards the target with an unfamiliar efficiency, it became too late for Angelo Mathews to snap himself and his side out of stupor. Sri Lanka sank in the Sharjah twilight, with their captain and fielders feebly complaining about not being able to see the ball.Pakistan needed 195 in 35 overs at the start of the final session, and they had made a tactical decision to send Sarfraz Ahmed in at No.5, shortly before the tea break. He proved to be the catalyst, and the method he used to attack Rangana Herath’s defensive line oozed with resourcefulness.Herath operated from over the wicket and pitched wide outside leg stump for most of his 19 overs, which cost 100 and yielded no wickets, but when he did so after tea Sarfraz took guard near the wide-ball indicators outside leg stump and lofted inside-out through covers to beat a packed on-side field. After several such shots, Mathews moved a fielder from the leg to the off, and Sarfraz promptly slogged Herath over the midwicket boundary to take 15 runs off the 29th over, the most expensive of the match.While Sarfraz made use of his license to run riot, Azhar accumulated briskly in a more organised manner, driving the seamers and sweeping Herath off his negative line. With the field spread deep, Azhar picked off the gaps to get to his half-century off 79 balls, and his 89-run stand with Sarfraz came at a run-a-ball. Pakistan needed 116 off 22.2 overs when Misbah walked in, after Sarfraz had been caught gloving a Shaminda Eranga short ball down the leg side.Mathews remained defensive despite having a new batsman at the crease and the 40th over of the chase, from Suranga Lakmal, was a defining one. Azhar jumped outside leg and drove, forcing a full-length dive from the deep-cover fielder, the next three balls went to deep point and deep midwicket, before Misbah pulled to the fine-leg boundary. The over cost 12 runs, and Pakistan’s momentum was unaffected by Sarfraz’s departure.Despite Azhar and Misbah sweeping and reverse-sweeping Herath at will, irrespective of whether he bowled over or round the wicket, and the left-arm spinner proving utterly ineffective at controlling the run-rate, Mathews did not use his offspinner Dilruwan Perera at all.Sri Lanka tried to stall the game in the last hour, with Eranga needing prolonged attention from the physio after his arm came into contact with Misbah’s helmet, which prompted umpire Richard Kettleborough to ask the physio to stay off the ground when Lakmal fell while collecting a ball. The equation boiled down to 30 off 30 balls, and after three runs off the first two deliveries of the Lakmal over, Azhar cleared his front foot and swung to the midwicket boundary. A ball later, he celebrated a century off 133 balls. The century stand with Misbah had taken only 111.Even when Pakistan needed 17 off four overs, the field stayed spread. Sri Lanka had actually lost the Test long before the winning runs were hit.The base for Pakistan’s final-session heroics had been laid after the lunch break, when Ahmed Shehzad and Khurram Manzoor came out swinging. As soon as Shehzad flicked Eranga for two fours in the second over and Manzoor charged and slapped Lakmal to the cover boundary in the third, Mathews dispersed his fielders. The approach was helter-skelter and fraught with risk, though. Shehzad eventually mis-hit a slower ball and was caught at deep midwicket, while Manzoor was caught nimbly down the leg side by the wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene. Pakistan had got to 48 at more than five an over.Azhar began his innings by cutting his second ball fiercely through point, but his partnership with Younis Khan was more measured. With plenty of gaps to exploit, they picked up singles and twos comfortably. They added 49 in 12.4 overs when Younis pulled Mathews straight to midwicket to leave Pakistan on 97 for 3.Pakistan did not go on the defensive despite losing Younis. Instead, they promoted Sarfraz, and he charged and slogged Mathews to the midwicket boundary in the last over before tea, small indication of the damage he would inflict on Sri Lanka after the break.Sri Lanka would not have suffered such an embarrassing defeat had they played more periods of this Test with a semblance of the urgency Prasanna showed for an hour this morning. After they scored at 1.87 for 71 overs on the fourth day, Prasanna led the gathering of 62 runs in 14 overs on the last morning. A few wickets, however, forced a dramatic slowdown and Sri Lanka went at a little more than a run an over for the rest of their innings. At the end of the Test, Sri Lanka had batted 273.4 overs; Pakistan needed only 166.4 overs to score a run more. There lay the difference.

Shikhar Dhawan said playing straight and being patient would be key to succeeding in New Zealand pitches and said the fightback in Auckland gave India confidence going into the second Test

Abhishek Purohit in Wellington13-Feb-2014Shikhar Dhawan became only the fourth India opener to make a second-innings century and though the visitors lost the Auckland Test, Dhawan’s performance was a definite positive. He admitted it was a crucial knock – he was quiet on his first overseas Test tour in South Africa and went for a duck in the first innings in Auckland – but added that these were early days in his international career.”It was very important for me to get big scores and it boosted my confidence,” Dhawan said. “When I started playing for India I scored centuries in England too (in the Champions Trophy). It is not that I did not score centuries overseas. This is my second (Test) series outside India. I have not played much of Test cricket for India. It has been a learning process for me. And I learn from my mistakes and analyse what I can do to become a better player. I have been working hard and got rewarded with a century so I am happy with that.”Dhawan attributed his success in Auckland to a change in mindset. “I was calmer and just thought to play as straight as possible,” he said. “The wickets here are double-paced, especially with the short balls and all this stuff. I planned to play straight and just enjoy being at the wicket and enjoy my time over there. Their pacers have been bowling good line and length. You have to play straight and close to your body. The ball swings at the start. You don’t get too many runs at the start. You have to be extra patient over here and once you get set you can get big runs.”The runs were not coming for Dhawan during the one-dayers, and he was left of the side for the fourth ODI in Hamilton. MS Dhoni had said that was done so that Dhawan could return with a clear mind and the batsman concurred the break had helped. “Whenever you get rest, it is good. You can sit and analyse what was going wrong. You are getting a break from the match pressure and you can think what you can do better. I was relaxed and I came back. So it was good.”Going into the Wellington Test, Dhawan asked for more leeway for his team with its inexperienced batting line-up. “We have been doing well. Unfortunately, we are ending up on the losing side. It is a new team, young players who have got five-six matches under their belt. Of course, it takes a bit of time. We fought back nicely in the last Test and we batted really nicely even in the last innings. There are a lot of positives to take from the last match and it is building our confidence and our strength.”

Michael Klinger was at the forefront of a strong batting performance from South Australia in Adelaide, and his unbeaten century was supported by fifties from Sam Raphael and Tom Cooper

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Feb-2014
ScorecardMichael Klinger was at the forefront of a strong batting performance from South Australia in Adelaide, and his unbeaten century was supported by fifties from Sam Raphael and Tom Cooper. The hosts denied Victoria’s specialist bowlers a wicket all day, and the only breakthroughs were made by part-time offspinner Glenn Maxwell.Klinger and Raphael batted 50 overs after South Australia won the toss, adding 121 for the first wicket. Maxwell was the seventh bowler Victoria captain Matthew Wade introduced and he struck in his first over, having Raphael caught by Cameron White for 61. In the 54th over, Maxwell and White combined again to dismiss Travis Head for 4.Having lost two wickets for seven runs, South Australia were steadied by Klinger and Cooper, and they added 145 runs in 38.1 overs. Klinger’s 115 came at a strike rate of just under 42, while Cooper scored 80 at a strike rate of 64.

New Zealander Hamish Marshall held up Hampshire’s victory bid on day three at Bristol by spearheading a battling Gloucestershire recovery. His unbeaten 84 kept his side alive

Press Association16-Apr-2014
ScorecardHamish Marshall kept Gloucestershire alive•PA PhotosNew Zealander Hamish Marshall held up Hampshire’s victory bid on day three at Bristol by spearheading a battling Gloucestershire recovery.Marshall ended the day unbeaten on 84 as Gloucestershire recovered from 183 for 7 to reach 308 for 9 in their second innings, with Marshall and seamer David Payne forging a record ninth wicket partnership for the county against Hampshire of 92 at almost five runs an over.Payne, who hit two fours and a six off successive deliveries during one Michael Carberry over, was dismissed for 44 in the last over of the day as Gloucestershire closed with a 190-run lead.Alex Gidman’s 72 allowed Gloucestershire to stage an initial comeback from 48 for 3, yet they continued losing wickets at regular intervals before Marshall and Payne breathed life into a game that appeared lost.Hampshire added just five runs to their overnight score, with wicketkeeper Adam Wheater the last man out for 82 as Matt Taylor returned career-best figures of 5 for 75, yet a first innings total of 422 meant Gloucestershire needed a solid start as they set about erasing a 118-run first innings deficit.But James Tomlinson kept Hampshire on top, removing openers Michael Klinger and Chris Dent to leave Gloucestershire reeling on 6 for 2, before first innings centurion Will Tavare went for 18, trapped lbw by Matt Coles.Gidman and Marshall repaired some of the damage as Gloucestershire moved to 79 for 3 by lunch, before a 76-run fourth wicket partnership was broken by Sean Irvine, who had Gidman caught behind, ending an innings that included 11 boundaries.Ervine then struck again, bowling Gidman’s younger brother Will, and not even the loss of Wheater with a hand injury for the evening session – Will Smith deputised behind the stumps – could disrupt Hampshire’s flow until Marshall and Payne took charge. Six Hampshire bowlers shared the nine wickets to fall, with Ervine, Tomlinson and Coles taking two each.

James Faulkner has put himself up for selection for Australia’s next World T20 game against West Indies on Friday

Mohammad Isam26-Mar-2014James Faulkner is likely to be available for selection for Australia’s next World T20 game against West Indies on Friday. If picked, this game will be the allrounder’s first competitive match since he underwent an arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on January 28. Faulkner, who aimed to make a return in the World T20s, missed the first game of the tournament against Pakistan on Sunday as George Bailey didn’t want to risk him.”Everything has been on track so far,” Faulkner said. “It is now about going to training tomorrow and getting through that session. I will train with the best of my ability and putting my case up for selection.”Injuries are frustrating but I have had a good run in the last couple of years. It is good to be in a position now when everything is coming along and progressing as I would like.”Faulkner shot to fame through his bowling in the IPL, and with the bat for Australia recently. In the 2013-14 season, he averaged 82 with the bat with one century – an incredible 73-ball 116 against India in November last year.Hoping to regain his old lower-order position in the batting line-up, Faulkner was confident of doing well in the subcontinent and was prepared to be used at any point in the game. But first, he wants to finish training on Wednesday on the right note.”I have played a fair bit of cricket in the subcontinent, and it is not too foreign to me,” he said. “If I do slot in, it would be at seven or eight where I normally do and bowl in the positions where George wants to use me.”There’s a little bit of water that has to go under the bridge for that to be the case. I have to get through training 100%. I am looking forward to the next 48 hours to see I am playing or not. So it is exciting,” he said.

Ireland’s two ODIs against Sri Lanka will be streamed live via YouTube after an agreement was struck with Irish online TV provider Aertv

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Apr-2014Ireland’s two ODIs against Sri Lanka will be streamed live via YouTube after an agreement was struck with Irish online TV provider Aertv. The broadcast, which will be supported by the ICC’s Development Programme, will make use of four high-definition cameras as well as replays and commentary.The deal is similar to last year’s arrangement with Quipu TV for the visit of Pakistan, which was viewed by almost 300,000 people. Sri Lanka will prepare for their tour of England with one-dayers against Ireland at Clontarf on May 6 and 8.”We’ve seen with previous broadcasts just how much of an appetite there is for cricket coverage, and it’s fantastic for Irish and cricket supporters worldwide to be able to view these matches online,” Cricket Ireland’s chief executive, Warren Deutrom, said. “It’s another important step in securing the long-term legacy for international cricket in Ireland as we look to take the game here to a higher level and a wider audience.”The games will be streamed on the Cricket Ireland website and its YouTube channel, as well as on Dublin-based Aertv’s website. Ireland’s recent trip to the Caribbean, where they beat West Indies for the first time in a T20 international, was also broadcast online.

Parvez Rasool, who played his first match for India in Dhaka on Sunday, finally “broke the ice” and brought an end to the long wait in Jammu & Kashmir of seeing their best cricketer graduate to the top level

Devashish Fuloria15-Jun-2014India’s three-ODI sojourn to Bangladesh may just be a footnote in the international calendar but its relevance had been heightened in the state of Jammu & Kashmir once the team for the tour was announced. Parvez Rasool, who played his first match for India in Dhaka on Sunday, finally “broke the ice” and brought an end to the long wait in J&K to see the best cricketer from the valley graduate to the highest level.Rasool didn’t have to wait long to make impact; he struck on the first ball of his third over with the wicket of Anamul Haque to ease the early nerves that usually follow a much-awaited new arrival. Another wicket in the day must have made it doubly sweet.”It is a proud moment. There was a jinx which wasn’t breaking somehow,” Samiullah Beigh, the J&K fast bowler, told ESPNcricinfo. “We always felt that somebody should break the ice so that cricketers can flow out of this part of the world. There was a mental block that our boys could only make it to a certain level – to zonals or maximum to India A level. We were not able to push it past the glass ceiling. That ceiling has been removed now.”We are all very happy about it. The social media, the news reports that will come out tomorrow about Parvez Rasool making Jammu & Kashmir proud … there has been a buzz about this.”

So very happy for Parvez Rasool. He's got his 1st ODI wicket with the dismissal of Anamul. Let's hope this is the 1st of many, well done.

— Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) June 15, 2014

The former J&K seamer and the current coach, Abdul Qayoom, who has been an inspiration for a lot of J&K cricketers including Rasool, saw the debut as a harbinger, a motivator, for the current and the next crop of state’s cricketers. Coming through the ranks of the state cricket structure, Rasool has been close to most.”The cricketers see him as the same Parvez who used to play with them,” Qayoom said. “He has the same two hands, same pair of legs. So now it makes it clear for youngsters that if they play well, there is no politics standing in their way.”Since his selection in the India A squad in January 2013, Rasool’s default introduction on anything written about him has always mentioned him as the “first cricketer from J&K to..”, almost making him the de facto face of state cricket. The horrifying memories of 2009 had long been shelved. But the last step, that of making it to the national side, had been eluding him.He made it to the India squad that played an ODI series, similar in import to the current one in Bangladesh, in Zimbabwe last September. Despite winning the series, the team management’s decision to keep him out of the XI left Rasool, and his team-mates in the state, disappointed. Qayoom ensured he didn’t let the despair set in. He told Rasool, “You are the one in limelight. (Don’t lose your heart). Maybe the selectors wanted to see something extra in you, so you should work harder to rectify those shortcomings. They should see the difference.”Rasool did stick to the path of self-improvement, following up his excellent 2012-13 season for J&K with solid performances with both bat and ball in the 2013-14 season, during which he led the side too. He scored 594 runs that included a century in the quarter-final against Punjab and ended the season with 33 wickets.The team took all the limelight that has come with Rasool as a boost, broke through to the Ranji knockouts this season and ensured an entry to the more difficult pool next season. The state cricket association, JKCA, has also buckled up and is organising early camps, five months before Ranji, something unusual in the state.”Even till two years ago, we didn’t use to get any cricket in the off season and were picked straight for the Ranji Trophy,” Beigh said. “The new (enthusiasm) that is visible both among the players and the JKCA will have far-reaching consequences.”

The Big Bash League season has been cut by eight days and will run from December 18 to January 28 this season, fitting mostly within the school holiday period

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Jul-2014The Big Bash League season has been cut by eight days and will run from December 18 to January 28 this season, fitting mostly within the school holiday period. And the Sydney Showground Stadium will host its first BBL matches as part of this season’s fixture, with the Sydney Thunder to play two games there in January, while the ANZ Stadium is being used for Asian Cup football matches.The tournament will begin at the redeveloped Adelaide Oval with the Strikers hosting the Melbourne Stars on December 18, and a week of matches will lead up to Christmas. The tighter schedule this year means that there will be at least one game on every day from December 26 to January 15, and the tournament will not stretch into February as it did last season.The semi-finals are set for the weekend of January 24-25, with the final to be played on Wednesday, January 28. The only double-header for the season comes on January 11, when the Hobart Hurricanes host the Perth Scorchers and the Brisbane Heat play at home against the Sydney Sixers.The Boxing Day match will feature the Perth Scorchers hosting the Melbourne Renegades, and on New Year’s Eve the Adelaide Strikers will host the Hobart Hurricanes. Mike McKenna, the executive general manager of operations with Cricket Australia, said he hoped the BBL would continue to bring in young fans.”In just three seasons, the Big Bash League has established itself as clearly Australia’s most popular summer sporting league,” McKenna said. “We hope that the fourth season of the BBL will be a school holiday staple for families across the country this summer. One of the league’s key objectives is to bring new fans to the game and the phenomenal numbers from last season showed just how much the public has embraced the great entertainment on offer.”Last season an average of more than 930,000 people tuned into the BBL on Channel Ten, while crowd attendances averaged 19,000 – of which more than half were families and one in five were attending an elite cricket match for the first time.”Big Bash League 2014-15

Dec 18: Adelaide Strikers v Melbourne Stars, Adelaide Oval
Dec 19: Sydney Sixers v Melbourne Renegades, SCG
Dec 20: Melbourne Stars v Hobart Hurricanes, MCG
Dec 21: Sydney Thunder v Brisbane Heat, ANZ Stadium
Dec 22: Perth Scorchers v Adelaide Strikers, WACA
Dec 23: Hobart Hurricanes v Sydney Sixers, Bellerive Oval
Dec 26: Perth Scorchers v Melbourne Renegades, WACA
Dec 27: Sydney Thunder v Sydney Sixers, ANZ Stadium
Dec 28: Brisbane Heat v Melbourne Stars, Gabba
Dec 29: Sydney Sixers v Perth Scorchers, SCG
Dec 30: Melbourne Renegades v Sydney Thunder, Etihad Stadium
Dec 31: Adelaide Strikers v Hobart Hurricanes, Adelaide Oval
Jan 1: Perth Scorchers v Sydney Thunder, WACA
Jan 2: Hobart Hurricanes v Brisbane Heat, Bellerive Oval
Jan 3: Melbourne Renegades v Melbourne Stars, Etihad Stadium
Jan 4: Brisbane Heat v Adelaide Strikers, Gabba
Jan 5: Melbourne Stars v Sydney Sixers, MCG
Jan 6: Adelaide Strikers v Perth Scorchers, Adelaide Oval
Jan 7: Sydney Thunder v Hobart Hurricanes, Spotless Stadium
Jan 8: Perth Scorchers v Brisbane Heat, WACA
Jan 9: Sydney Sixers v Sydney Thunder, SCG
Jan 10: Melbourne Stars v Melbourne Renegades, MCG
Jan 11: Brisbane Heat v Sydney Sixers, Gabba
Jan 11: Hobart Hurricanes v Perth Scorchers, Bellerive Oval
Jan 12: Adelaide Strikers v Sydney Thunder, Adelaide Oval
Jan 13: Melbourne Renegades v Brisbane Heat, Etihad Stadium
Jan 14: Sydney Sixers v Adelaide Strikers, SCG
Jan 15: Hobart Hurricanes v Melbourne Renegades, Bellerive Oval
Jan 17: Sydney Thunder v Melbourne Stars, Spotless Stadium
Jan 19: Melbourne Renegades v Adelaide Strikers, Etihad Stadium
Jan 21: Melbourne Stars v Perth Scorchers, MCG
Jan 22: Brisbane Heat v Hobart Hurricanes, Gabba
Jan 24: Semi-final, TBC
Jan 25: Semi-final, TBC
Jan 28: Final, TBC

Spinner Steve O’Keefe is hoping his shoulder stands up to the rigours of a four-day match against South Africa A this week as he auditions for a possible place in Australia’s Test squad

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Aug-2014Spinner Steve O’Keefe is hoping his shoulder stands up to the rigours of a four-day match against South Africa A this week as he auditions for a possible place in Australia’s Test squad.O’Keefe will take the field for Australia A in Townsville in a match starting on Thursday, his first game for nearly five months, after he had a shoulder reconstruction at the end of the summer. However, the good news for O’Keefe’s left-arm bowling is that it was his right shoulder that required the surgery, meaning that his main test will come if he has to dive in the field.”It’s as good as I can be,” O’Keefe told the . “It’s going to take six months for it to heal properly and the surgeon said it doesn’t matter what I do in terms of strength or stretching, that’s just how long the body is going to take naturally.”I’ve done everything in my power to get it to a standard where I can bat and bowl, the only issue is diving on it [fielding] but I’ve been able to manage that. It’s good enough to play, that’s for certain.”If fully fit, O’Keefe would be difficult to ignore for Australia’s upcoming Test tour of Pakistan in October, given the likelihood of spinning conditions there. Nathan Lyon was the only specialist slow bowler taken on Australia’s most recent Test tour, to South Africa in February-March, but there is no question that at least two will be needed in the UAE.O’Keefe was the leading wicket taker in the Sheffield Shield last summer, with 41 victims at 20.43, and over the course of a 40-match first-class career has collected 126 wickets at 24.52. He played seven T20 internationals from 2010 to 2011 but has been overlooked for Test duties while other left-arm orthodox spinners such as Ashton Agar, Xavier Doherty and Michael Beer have been chosen.”I haven’t had any feedback be it technical or mental but you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out why you haven’t been picked,” O’Keefe said. “I can understand why they’ve picked those guys in front of me. You certainly can’t whinge. You have to improve your game and put performances on the board. It’s as simple as it gets.”