AUSTRALIAN spinner Steve O’Keefe has made the stunning admission former Test batsman Simon Katich saved the former’s cricket career.

O’Keefe revealed in an interview with The Guardian he could have walked away from the sport almost a decade ago if not for his former NSW captain.

The left-arm orthodox tweaker recalls he had been called in to the Blues team for a Sheffield Shield match to replace injured paceman Josh Hazlewood.

A horror day with the ball had O’Keefe ready to throw in the towel and quit cricket. He had been doubting his ability for some time already.

The faith Katich showed in his young spinner during that Shield match saved O’Keefe’s career.

“I’d opened the bowling and I was none for 80,” O’Keefe said.

“I literally went home that night and thought, ‘that’s it, that’s your career basically done and dusted’.

Simon Katich and Steve O'Keefe in NSW camp. Source: News Limited

“I came in the next morning. Simon Katich put his arm around me and said, ‘you did a great job yesterday. You’re going to start up again for us this morning. This game will break open and you’re going to play a big part’.

“At this stage I had literally zero belief in what I was doing. The wicket broke up and I finished with seven wickets for the game.

“If I played under another captain I could have been rinsed at 0-80, and not bowled another over.”

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O’Keefe is convinced that gesture from his NSW captain is the reason he’s now played four Test matches, and 65 first-class games.

“Without a doubt (Katich saved my career),” he said.

“Simon was pivotal to me. I can thank him, and (then NSW coach) Matthew Mott for my NSW playing career.”

O’Keefe’s cricket career had a false start. He debuted for NSW in 2005 then waited five long years to don his state’s baggy blue again.

Now 32 years old, O’Keefe has been handed a Test lifeline and will tour India with the Australian squad next month.

And while a portion of Australia’s cricketing public still question O’Keefe’s place under the baggy green, he says he’s learnt to brush aside the criticism ... even if it comes from former cricketing greats.

“Now when I play my cricket I have that belief in myself. When (Shane) Warne and these guys come out and say ‘he doesn’t spin it enough,’ and ‘his best ball’s not good enough to get batters out,’ it’s almost like white noise because I’ve heard it for so long,” O’Keefe said.

“I figured that if it actually is shit and it’s not good enough then I might as well do it my own way. I’ve just learnt to be comfortable with who I am.”