Outhouse Cricket suited Kerry O’Keeffe

Given he was a solitary teenager, solitary games against a fibro outhouse in a cul-de-sac on the Moorefield Estate at Kogarah suited Kerry O'Keeffe.

His parents Jim and Ngaire had an unhappy marriage and to escape the domestic maelstrom, often he would escape to the backyard and lose himself in thrilling cricket matches of his invention.

Vaguely aware that a young Don Bradman famously used a stump and golf ball at a Bowral tank stand to hone his skills, O'Keeffe armed himself with a stump to play to all parts of the yard the rebounding tennis ball he threw against the fibro lavatory.

Despite being disadvantaged by his right-handedness he without fail assumed the identity of Garfield Sobers when batting. As a bowler he transformed into cricket’s gentle patrician, Intikhab Alam.

These were matches of the utmost importance and were meticulously scored in the ABC Cricket Book of the summer. If light rain threatened to disrupt play, the cricket book and pencil were hurriedly placed in plastic for protection. Averages and aggregates were filed for posterity.

Eight years later, at the age of twenty-two, O'Keeffe played for Australia against Sobers and Intikhab who were chosen for the World Team which replaced a scheduled visit by the iniquitous Old South Africa in the summer of 1971-72.

Sobers was never out in the back yard. If I got a nick it was automatically a "no ball". I think that was in my mind when bowled to him because he never did get out when I bowled to him.