Australia seek their own Herath

Last month, Pakistan were routed by a short left-arm spinner who relied on accuracy more than extravagant turn. When Rangana Herath bowled Sri Lanka to a 2-0 victory by taking 23 wickets in two Tests, Australia's selectors were watching. Watching and wondering if they might just have their own Herath up their sleeves for October's series in the UAE.

As it happened, last year's leading Sheffield Shield wicket-taker was a left-arm orthodox spinner. And as it happened, he had spent plenty of time working with a Sri Lankan coach, Chandika Hathurusingha, at New South Wales, developing plans on increasing his effectiveness. Not surprisingly, they studied Herath. Not surprisingly, Steve O'Keefe is now in Australia's Test squad.

"He's certainly someone I copy or implement my game the same as him," O'Keefe said on Monday. "He's a short spinner who bowls very similarly, attacks the stumps, mixes his pace up really well and he's probably the leading left-arm spinner in the world. Not a big spinner of the ball but he's shown at that level that he can take wickets. For me, that's inspiring."

The comparison was also made by national selector Rod Marsh, who said O'Keefe's Sheffield Shield form warranted inclusion in the 15-man squad. It remains to be seen whether O'Keefe and Nathan Lyon will be used in tandem in the UAE - spinning allrounder Glenn Maxwell is also in the touring party - but Marsh said if O'Keefe was given a chance he was confident he could perform well.

"Pakistan haven't had a great record against left-arm orthodox spinners," Marsh said. "Herath is about the same size as Stephen O'Keefe. Herath is not a big turner of the ball; Stephen O'Keefe is not a big turner of the ball. They both rely on accuracy rather than huge amounts of turn and that's another reason he was chosen."

A reason, that is, beyond the 41 wickets that put him on top of the Sheffield Shield tally last summer. It was the second consecutive year that O'Keefe had been the leading spinner in the Shield, and four years since he was first called into the Test squad to replace the injured Nathan Hauritz when Australia last played Pakistan away from home, in England in 2010. Steven Smith played those two Tests instead of O'Keefe.

In the meantime, O'Keefe has gone back to domestic cricket and continued to perform, watching as more and more spinners were given a chance at Test level. He was especially unfortunate to miss out on last year's tour of India, when Xavier Doherty was picked based on one-day international form and played two of the Tests, with limited impact.

At times there has been speculation that O'Keefe's non-selection stemmed partly from perceptions about his attitude. After finally winning his call-up for the UAE tour, he conceded that he had "grown up" over the past few years.

"The modern-day cricketer is certainly going to be a lot more opinionated with what they believe," O'Keefe said. "If that's hindered me in the past, well then I've just got to learn and grow as a person and you've got to let the bat and ball do the talking in all forms of cricket.

"I really think that if you want to push your way into this class Australian team, you have to do it through performances. And you also have to fit into that group culturally as well, that's an important part. I've certainly grown up over the last couple of years and I'd like to think that's helped my cause in terms of selection."

Being left out of the Indian tour might have hurt at the time, but in hindsight O'Keefe believes it has left him better prepared now for a possible Test debut, with another productive Shield season behind him. However, he knows that he will travel to the UAE behind Nathan Lyon in the pecking order, and hoping that the expected spinning conditions will encourage the selectors to choose two slow bowlers.

"Nathan's the No.1 spinner in the country at the moment and he's earned that right and he's done very well when he's got that opportunity," O'Keefe said. "I think we play well together, we complement each other really well. Hopefully that's the way the selectors view it and the conditions deem a left- and a right-arm finger-spinning option."