Steven Smith reveals the reason behind Steve O’Keefe’s exclusion

Australian captain Steven Smith has backed the management’s decision to drop Steve O’Keefe for their 2-match Test series in Bangladesh keeping an eye on their future. The Australian selectors have opted towards young spinners Ashton Agar and Mitchell Swepson in the 14-man squad for their Bangladesh tour. They were picked ahead of the left-arm spinner O’Keefe, who played the pivotal role by picking up 12 wickets in their recent Test win in India.

It was their first in 13 years and brought an end to their 9-match losing streak in Asia. Smith says that Steve O’Keefe’s exclusion was made based on their next Test tour in India in 2021 by which O’Keefe will be turning 36 and might not be at peak of his career though performing brilliantly in their recent series in India.

“I thought the first Test in India he bowled particularly well and at times throughout the series he bowled well without taking the wickets we would have liked,” the Australian skipper Steven Smith told cricket.com.au.

“I have (spoken to O’Keefe) and he was disappointed, which is fair enough. He understands where we’re heading. He’s getting a bit older now and our next tour back to India is in four years’ time and we’ve got to find the right group of guys that are going to be there for that series. That’s going to be an important one for us so hopefully we can continue to develop a few players in the meantime,” he added.

O’Keefe’s axing will now give a chance to the young left-arm spinner Ashton Agar for making into the XI ahead of Swepson along with Nathan Lyon. This also means Agar will finally feature in a Test match after his debut series way back in 2013.

“Now is probably a chance to move on to someone else and Ashton Agar’s going to get his opportunity. He has been around for a while now and it’s another chance for him to have a crack in spin-friendly conditions and hopefully he can go really well for us,” said Smith about Ashton Agar.