Okeefe dismissed.. not sure why

[The Falcon Strike]

So OKeefe - the most prolific domestic spinner is not offered a NSW contract. Presumably to blood some youngster I can only imagine.

Whilst I see the argument for not holding back talent, surely there is also a need to have seasoned cricketers to bowl against opposition batsman learning their craft.

Take Cam Green - surely his development is better facing Okeefe then some spinner who is learning which hand to hold the ball in.

Sure when that seasoned cricketer is fringe anyway - it probably doesn't matter - but at shield level Okeefe is far from fringe.

 

[Aussie_boy]

Victoria will sign him you watch.

 

[eth-dog]

He's 37 years old and not going to play for Australia again. Tasmania should be all over him.

Victoria will sign him you watch.

Nah, not with Ducky and Parker.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Victoria will sign him you watch.

Are you trying to hurt me.

 

[Aussie_boy]

Tassie would make sense but SOK doesn’t seem the type of guy who wants to live in Hobart.

 

[11kgm]

He has come out and said he is focusing on T20 cricket no new club for him

 

[Cleavy]

NSW have Tanveer Sangha in the pipeline.

 

[Phone]

Sure when that seasoned cricketer is fringe anyway - it probably doesn't matter - but at shield level Okeefe is far from fringe.

problem is for NSW, he is a fringe selection for nearly half the season. Now, O'Keefe always performs better than Lyon for NSW, but Lyon ain't being dropped, and it seems NSW is turning away from using two spinners in place of their seam bowlers, as shown by O'Keefe's dropping for the last couple of games this season. Add in his seasonal injury woes and off-field history and it becomes a complicated picture. However, I'm surprised the decision was made prior to the impacts of COVID-19 on domestic cricket is known through. If there is a crunch on squad sizes, etc, O'Keefe missing out will make some sense.

Shame that he's straight up retired though

 

[The Passenger]

NSW have Tanveer Sangha in the pipeline.

Devlin Malone too, who has taken loads of wickets in Sydney first grade, though his 19/20 was only above average.

Still, I'm not sure why having a couple of young promising spinners in the mix puts O'Keefe on the outer... Would have thought having him around for experience would have been good... I get the impression he has rubbed a lot of people up the wrong way - always struggled for chances despite to taking tons of wickets (with his admittedly innocuous looking left armers) and he has been cut from pretty much every team/squad he has been involved in at the first available opportunity.

Has announced his FC retirement and I'd be surprised if renegs on that to play for another state.

 

[corbies]

He's 37 years old and not going to play for Australia again. Tasmania should be all over him.

Harsh. He's virtually a youngster at 35.

He made some very interesting points on the Corbin and Ben show on ABC Grandstand yesterday. Firstly on his behaviour:

"I think what the Australian team and public deserve is not only good cricketers, but good role models and absolutely I dropped the ball... I'm really ashamed of the way that I've behaved".

Then he spoke about how the Shield doesn't allow spinners enough opportunities and this is some of the reason we suck in Asia:

“If we keep neglecting the spinners, we’re going to keep battling overseas. It’s a bit hard to throw Mitchell Swepson the ball in the fifth over of a Test in Bangladesh and ask him to win a match, when he doesn’t get that opportunity in Sheffield Shield.

“Five of the top 10 Test nations are going to produce slow wickets which are going to spin, we’ve got one spinner right now in Nathan, but we need three or four, just like the subcontinental teams.”

 

[Caesar]

Still, I'm not sure why having a couple of young promising spinners in the mix puts O'Keefe on the outer... Would have thought having him around for experience would have been good...

Lyon is going to be available for a fair bit of next summer, and NSW have not shown a lot of interest in playing two spinners. Assuming they want to give a couple of their young guys a sniff of Shield cricket, that's not a lot of matches left for SOK to play.

I imagine a player of SOK's calibre is a fairly significant amount of money to leave sitting on the bench for a decent chunk of the season.