FORMER Hawkesbury Cricket Club player Stephen O’Keefe has been named as part of a 16-man test squad to tour India.
Australia will play four tests in the challenging conditions in the sub-continent, with the first starting on February 23.
O’Keefe is part of a raft of spin options being considered for the tests.
Test mainstay Nathan Lyon was named, as was the uncapped leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson, whose selection raised a few eyebrows.
Ashton Agar was named as well, alongside allrounder Glenn Maxwell, to make up five different spinning options for the Australians.
The interim chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said Adam Zampa’s name was also thrown around the selection panel, but the selectors ultimately decided the leg spinner in Swepson could be a handy option to have.
"We thought we would go for a more attacking leg-spinner more so than a defensive spinner,” Hohns said.
Hohns added that the unknown conditions of the pitches in India, led selectors to cover all their bases.
"We know India is an incredibly tough place to tour and have success in, with most International teams struggling to adapt to the conditions,” he said.
“We have chosen a squad which we believe will work really hard in its endeavours to perform well and give a good account of itself in the subcontinent.”
O’Keefe earned a call up for the final test match of the Australian summer against Pakistan earlier this month.
Australia won the third test against Pakistan by 220 runs on the Sydney Cricket Ground’s spin-friendly track, where Australia often picks two spinners.
O’Keefe took three wickets in the final innings, alongside Nathan Lyon, who took two, while in the first innings O’Keefe took one wicket.
It was O’Keefe’s seventh test match, and he will be hoping he earns a few more caps on the tour.
The 31-year-old has had some awful luck in recent years, and ought to have played more tests, but injury seems to strike at very unfortunate times.
Last year, during the first test against Sri Lanka, O’Keefe picked up an injury and missed the rest of the tour.
Shortly afterwards, he got in a verbal altercation with some bouncers at a Manly pub, and earned himself a $10,000 fine from Cricket Australia.
In November, just before the day-night test at Adelaide, O’Keefe came down with a calf injury in a Sheffield Shield match.
He was a strong candidate to be picked in that match, due to his control of the pink ball, but instead missed another test match.
