| Cricket information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm medium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Allrounder | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2010/11–2014/15 | Victoria | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2012/13–2014/15 | Melbourne Stars | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Cricinfo, 19 October 2015 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alexander Robin Keath (born 20 January 1992) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League between 2020 and 2024 and the Adelaide Crows between 2016 and 2019. He formerly played professional cricket for Victoria in Australian domestic cricket and the Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League.[1]
Born in Shepparton in northern Victoria, Keath completed his schooling at Goulburn Valley Grammar School and Melbourne Grammar School.[2][3] He was a talented junior in both football and cricket, and drew the attention of professional recruiters from both sports. In 2009, after excelling at under-18s football for the Murray Bushrangers in the TAC Cup, he was recruited by the newly established Gold Coast Suns football club, which at that time was recruiting twelve 17-year-olds in a separate draft before it entered the Australian Football League in 2011. At the same time, Keath had excelled as a junior cricketer, and represented Australia in their successful 2010 Under-19 Cricket World Cup, and was offered a three-year Cricket Victoria contract.[4]
In April 2010, Keath chose to proceed with cricket, accepting his Cricket Victoria contract. An all rounder who bowled medium pace,[5] Keath made his first-class cricket debut against the touring England team in December 2010 making 46.[6] Over the following five years, he failed to earn a regular spot in the Victorian team, playing a total of seven first-class matches and sixteen List A matches, averaging less than twenty with the bat in both formats, as well as five Twenty20 matches for the Melbourne Stars.[7] He played premier cricket for Melbourne during that time, scoring 2101 runs at 35.01 and taking 79 wickets at 19.62.[8]
At the end of the 2014–15 season, Keath lost his Cricket Victoria contract.[9] He spent the 2015 season playing in England in the Birmingham Premier League, and upon his return to Australia signed for South Australian Grade Cricket club Prospect.[10] On 8 December 2015 Keath was signed by the Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash League[11] but was not offered a first class contract with the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA).[12]
Despite being drafted to the Gold Coast Suns in 2009, Keath was eligible to be drafted as a Category B rookie from 2013 as he had not played for an Australian rules football club at any level for three years. His shift to South Australian grade cricket attracted the attention of football recruiters, and in October 2015 he was signed by the Adelaide Football Club as a Category B rookie. Despite being on the football club's list, cricket initially remained Keath's primary focus season, with Adelaide's recruitment of him in the hope that he would switch to football at the end of the 2015–16 summer season.[13] After he failed to earn a SACA contract, he began playing SANFL football for the Adelaide reserves in the 2016 winter season. In 2017, Keath was named co-captain of the Adelaide Crows SANFL team.
Keath made his debut for the Adelaide Crows AFL side against the Geelong Cats at Adelaide Oval on 21 July 2017, filling in for the injured Jake Lever and Kyle Hartigan.[14]
At the end of the 2019 AFL season Keath officially requested a trade to the Western Bulldogs. The trade was finalised on 16 October.[15] A key player in the Bulldogs' 2021 campaign, Keath played in the losing 2021 Grand Final. He was awarded as the Bulldogs' Best Team Player following the grand final defeat, named after former Western Bulldogs legend Brad Johnson. At the conclusion of the 2024 season, Keath retired from professional football, following 79 games across five years at the Bulldogs.[16]
