Gary Keedy

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Gary Keedy
England
Personal information
Full name Gary Keedy
Nickname Keeds
Born 27 November 1974 (1974-11-27) (age 33)
Sandal, Wakefield, Yorkshire, England
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Batting style Left-hand
Bowling style Slow left arm orthodox
Domestic team information
Years Team
1995–present Lancashire (squad no. 23)
1994 Yorkshire
Career statistics
FC LA T20
Matches 157 43 29
Runs scored 895 52 15
Batting average 10.78 8.66 5.00
100s/50s 0/1 0/0 0/0
Top score 57 22 9*
Balls bowled 32145 1716 593
Wickets 481 47 27
Bowling average 31.41 29.10 22.92
5 wickets in innings 23 1 0
10 wickets in match 5 n/a n/a
Best bowling 7/95 5/30 3/25
Catches/stumpings 44/– 2/0 2/–

As of 6 September 2007
Source: Cricinfo.com

Gary Keedy (born 27 November 1974 in Wakefield, Yorkshire) is a slow-left arm spin bowler for Lancashire.

Keedy graduated from the Yorkshire Cricket Academy and played only one match for Yorkshire before moving to Roses rivals Lancashire in the winter of 1994/5.[1][2] Gary was signed by then Lancs coach David Lloyd in a motorway eaterie on the M6.[citation needed] Although it took time for him to become a leading light of the Lancashire attack, he was awarded his county cap in 2000.[2]

Although Keedy has never played for the England test or one day senior team, between 1993 and 1994 he played 8 youth test matches taking 16 wickets at an average of 38.87 including the scalps of Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Thilan Samaraweera.[3][4] In the same period, he also played 6 youth ODIs, claiming 8 wickets at 16.37.[5]

It was in 2003 that Keedy first started to impress observers, taking sixty wickets in the County Championship as Lancashire narrowly missed out on their first Championship title since 1934 to Sussex. Since then he has remained on the periphery of England selection. He was considered unlucky not to win a place to tour Sri Lanka in 2003-4. The selectors chose Glamorgan's Robert Croft instead.

In 2004, Keedy enjoyed the most successful season of his career so far, taking 72 Championship wickets, making him the leading first-class wicket-taker amongst England qualified players. Only Mushtaq Ahmed of Sussex took more first class wickets. Unfortunately for him, Lancashire were relegated to Division Two of the Championship despite being favourites for the title. As a result of his bowling efforts during the 2004 season, Keedy was awarded Lancashire’s Player of the Year Award.[6][2]

He again missed out on selection to tour with England, this time to South Africa, in favour of the more conservative pick of Gareth Batty.

After taking 29 Championship wickets in 2005, Keedy suffered a finger injury on his spinning finger which ruled him out for the final month of the season. The injury likely cost Keedy a place on England's tour to Pakistan and India.

Until recently, many observers believed the main reason that Keedy had never played for the national team is his lack of batting talent and poor fielding qualities. Despite this, Northants' inexperienced off-spinner Monty Panesar, who is also not renowned for his batting or fielding skills, played all three tests in India, and has remained in the squad ever since.

In All Out Cricket's October 2006 edition, Gary Keedy was voted the best county player never to have played for England.[7]

Gary Keedy season by season first class bowling stats[8]
Season Balls Maidens Runs Wickets Best Bowling Average Runs5wI 10wM Notes
1995 3,030 128 1,498 37 4/35 40.48 0 0
1995-96 168 8 73 2 2/73 36.50 0 0
1996 2,851 131 1,215 23 3/45 52.82 0 0
1997 1,756 60 917 27 6/79 33.96 1 1
1998 1,095 43 563 18 5/35 31.27 1 0
1999 1,594 73 711 26 5/67 27.34 1 0 Muralitharan played for Lancashire as overseas player June to August
2000 2,868 142 1,005 37 6/56 27.16 1 1
2001 2,323 76 1,150 28 5/73 41.07 2 0 Muralitharan played for Lancashire as overseas player May to September
2002 2,626 102 1,313 33 5/122 39.78 1 0
2003 3,335 126 1,593 60 6/68 26.55 5 1
2004 3,873 122 1,849 72 7/95 25.68 6 1 Lancashire’s leading wicket taker for the season[2]
2005 1,593 67 753 33 6/33 22.81 2 1 Muralitharan played for Lancashire as overseas player April to June
2006 3,398 88 1,660 61 6/40 27.21 2 0 Lancashire’s leading wicket taker for the season[2]
2007 1,635 55 813 24 5/159 33.87 1 0 Muralitharan played for Lancashire as overseas player May to August
Career 32,145 1,221 15,113 481 7/95 31.41 23 5

[edit] References

  1. ^ Gary Keedy player profile. ECB.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
  2. ^ a b c d e Colin Evans. Gary Keedy player profile. Lancashire County Cricket Club. Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
  3. ^ England Under-19s vs. West Indies Under-19s in England 1993 (2nd Test). Cricket Archive. Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
  4. ^ England Under-19s vs. Sri Lanka-19s in Sri Lanka 1993/4 (1st Test). Cricket Archive. Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
  5. ^ Gary Keedy career statistics. Cricket Archive. Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
  6. ^ Colin Evans (2004-09-24). Keedy secures top honour. Manchester Evening News. Retrieved on 2007-09-24.
  7. ^ All Out Cricket (no. 25), October 2006 
  8. ^ Gary Keedy season by season first class bowling statistics. Cricket Archive. Retrieved on 2007-09-24.