Alex Keath remains committed to cricket despite losing his Cricket Victoria contract

DESPITE losing his Cricket Victoria contract, Alex Keath will remain in the sport and ignore the obvious attraction of an AFL career.

Premier Cricket Grand Final: Melbourne v Ringwood

DESPITE having lost his Cricket Victoria contract, 23-year-old all-rounder Alex Keath has told friends he will remain in the cricketing system and ignore the obvious attraction of an AFL career.

The 196cm Keath was taken by Gold Coast in 2010 as a 17-year-old and his name remains on every AFL recruiting white board even if he hasn’t played since 2009.

Alex Keath in action during the Under-19 World Cup.

As a tall key defender he would be in hot demand should he switch his sporting allegiances given players of his position are currently regarded as the hardest to find in the system.

A base contract with Cricket Victoria starts at $61,000 and can be boosted by $4000 per Shield game.

Keath has played just six Shield games and nine domestic one-dayers for the Bushrangers in his five years as a contracted player.

Cricket Victoria’s Operations Manager Shaun Graf said his initials discussions with Keath indicate the all-rounder will endeavour to win back his Victorian contract

“My discussions with Alex strongly suggest he will remain dedicated to his cricketing dream. He is a single-minded young man who wants to make it in cricket. He is the sort of kid you would expect to make a second coming and everyone who knows him hopes that is the case because he is such a good lad,” said Graf.

At 196cm Keath is unusually tall for a batting all-rounder (Tom Moody and Tony Greig both stood 199cm) and he has had some technical problems with the short ball at domestic level.

A former coach said of Keath last night “there is no issue with his courage, just technical stuff and he is the type of young man who will work incredibly hard to turn it around”.

Originally published as Alex Keath remains committed to cricket despite losing his Cricket Victoria contract