Kerry James O'Keeffe (born 25 November 1949) is an Australian former

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er and a current cricket commentator for

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

. O'Keeffe played 24

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Indoor cricket, Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (associa ...

and two

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s between 1971 and 1977. Due to his comedic anecdotes and unique mannerisms, he has emerged as a popular commentator among fans.

Playing career

He was a

spin bowler Spin bowling is a bowling technique in cricket, in which the ball is delivered relatively slowly but with rapid rotation, giving it the potential to deviate sharply after bouncing. A bowler who uses this technique is called a spinner, a spin b ...

, bowling

leg break Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called a leg spinner. Leg spinners bowl with their right-arm and a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery is called a leg break, which spins from ...

s. 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 The Ashes is a Test cricket series played biennially between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, '' The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, ...

. 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 1977 Australian tour of England, when he appealed against a batsman for

leg before wicket Leg before wicket (lbw) is one of the ways in which a Batting (cricket), batter can be dismissal (cricket), dismissed in the sport of cricket. Following an Appeal (cricket), appeal by the Fielding (cricket), fielding side, the umpire (cricket), ...

, 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 missed 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 has remained involved in cricket since his retirement, including as a commentator on ABC Radio. He is known for his humorous anecdotes, told in the manner of an after-dinner speech at a cricketers club, and his distinctive laugh. He often enjoys working with overseas commentators such as India's Harsha Bhogle, whom he enjoyed confusing with his colourful Australian language. However, when he concentrates on the game, he shows 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 (O'Keeffe had accepted a redundancy from the ABC). However, O'Keeffe returned to cricket commentary in December 2016 as part of

Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 45 radio stations with flagship stations broadcasting a mainstream/classic rock music format in Sydney, Melbourne, and B ...

's new cricket coverage. O'Keeffe joined the

cricket commentary team from the 2018–19 season, where he was still commentating in the 2024-25 season.

References

External links

*
Kerry O'Keeffe's Biography on ICMI Sport Speakers

Kerry O'Keeffe tells joke during Aus v Sri Lanka Final ODI at Gabba 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okeeffe, Kerry 1949 births Living people Australia One Day International cricketers Australia Test cricketers Australian cricket commentators New South Wales cricketers Somerset cricketers Australian expatriate cricketers in England World Series Cricket players Australian cricketers Cricketers from Sydney D. H. Robins' XI cricketers St George cricketers 20th-century Australian sportsmen