O'Keefe joins the foreign legion

Stephen O'Keefe joined a select group of players on Wednesday when he became the 439th man to play Test cricket for Australia.

And he also joined two groups that are even more exclusive; Australia's left-arm spin bowlers, and overseas-born players to wear the Baggy Green cap.

O'Keefe was born in 1984 in Malaysia where his father, also named Stephen, was based as part of his role with the Royal Australian Air Force.

Now based in Sydney, O'Keefe is the 23rd foreign-born male to play Test cricket for Australia and the first since 2013 when Moises Henriques was handed his Test debut in India. Henriques was born in Madeira, a group of islands off the south-west coast of Portugal.

The only other foreign-born debutant this decade was Pakistan-born batsman Usman Khawaja, who debuted against England at the SCG in 2011.

Australia's first-ever Test XI, who took on England at the MCG in 1877, featured six players who were born overseas.

They were the English-born quartet of Charles Bannerman, John Hodges, Tom Kendall and William Midwinter, along with Tom Horan (Ireland) and Bransby Cooper (India).

Overall, there have been 10 English-born males to play Test cricket for Australia, the most recent of which was former allrounder Andrew Symonds.

But it's not just the men's team who boast some foreign-born talent; current Southern Stars captain Meg Lanning was born in Singapore.

AUSTRALIAN TEST PLAYERS BORN OVERSEAS

England: Charles Bannerman, John Hodges, Tom Kendall, William Midwinter, Percy McDonnell, William Cooper, Henry Musgrove, Hanson Carter, Tony Dell, Andrew Symonds
New Zealand: Tom Groube, Clarrie Grimmett, Brendon Julian
Ireland: Tom Horan, Tom Kelly
India: Bransby Cooper, Rex Sellers
Malaysia: Stephen O'Keefe
Pakistan: Usman Khawaja
Portugal: Moises Henriques
Scotland: Archie Jackson
South Africa: Kepler Wessels
Sri Lanka: Dav Whatmore