{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=July 2013}} {{Infobox cricketer | name = Keith Steele | image = | country = New Zealand | international = | fullname = Howard Keith Chillingworth Steele | birth_date = {{Birth date|1951|4|6|df=yes}} | birth_place = Epsom, Auckland, New Zealand | death_date = {{Death date and age|2009|6|7|1951|4|6|df=yes}} | death_place = Berrima, New South Wales, Australia | batting = Right-handed | bowling = Right-arm medium | role = | family = | club3 = Auckland | year3 = 1974/75 | club2 = Cambridgeshire | year2 = 1971–1972 | club1 = Cambridge University | year1 = {{nowrap|1970–1972}} | columns = 2 | column1 = First-class | matches1 = 26 | runs1 = 711 | bat avg1 = 19.75 | 100s/50s1 = 1/3 | top score1 = 103* | deliveries1 = 2,681 | wickets1 = 30 | bowl avg1 = 42.53 | fivefor1 = 0 | tenfor1 = 0 | best bowling1 = 4/71 | catches/stumpings1 = 13/– | column2 = List A | matches2 = 6 | runs2 = 43 | bat avg2 = 7.16 | 100s/50s2 = 0/0 | top score2 = 25 | deliveries2 = 231 | wickets2 = 2 | bowl avg2 = 70.50 | fivefor2 = 0 | tenfor2 = 0 | best bowling2 = 1/40 | catches/stumpings2 = 2/– | date = 25 April | year = 2011 | source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/38554.html Cricinfo }}
'''Howard Keith Chillingworth Steele''' (6 April 1951 – 7 June 2009) was a New Zealand cricketer, notable legal practitioner and author. In cricket, Steele was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm medium pace. He was born in Epsom, Auckland.
==Cricket== Steele won a scholarship to Cambridge University via the Girdlers Scholarship programme, given then to the brightest students in New Zealand. Steele studied law at the university.<ref name = "FREE">{{cite web|url=http://www.freehills.com/5091.aspx|title=Vale Keith Steele (6 April 1951 – 7 June 2009)|date=11 June 2009|publisher=freehills.com|accessdate=26 April 2011|archive-date=4 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004031145/http://www.freehills.com/5091.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> While there Steele played cricket for the university. His first-class debut for the university against Kent. He played first-class cricket for the university from 1970 to 1972, which amounted to 20 first-class matches.<ref name = "FCM">{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/22/22918/First-Class_Matches.html|title=First-Class Matches played by Keith Steele|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=26 April 2011}}</ref> He also played a single first-class match for a combined Oxford and Cambridge Universities team against the touring Australians.<ref name = "FCM"/> He scored 662 runs at a batting average of 24.51 for the university, with three half centuries and a single century high score of 103*.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/22/22918/f_Batting_by_Team.html|title=First-class Batting and Fielding For Each Team by Keith Steele|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=26 April 2011}}</ref> His highest score, which was also his highest first-class score, came against Sussex in 1972.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/32/32478.html|title=Cambridge University v Sussex, 1972|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=26 April 2011}}</ref> With the ball he took 16 wickets at a bowling average of 52.56, with best figures of 3/16.<ref name = "FCBO">{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/22/22918/f_Bowling_by_Team.html|title=First-class Bowling For Each Team by Keith Steele|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=26 April 2011}}</ref>
It was in 1972 that Steele made his debut in List A cricket for the university against Warwickshire in the 1972 Benson & Hedges Cup. He played three further List A matches for the university in that season's competition.<ref name = "LAM">{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/22/22918/List_A_Matches.html|title=List A Matches played by Keith Steele|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=26 April 2011}}</ref> Steele received his Cambridge Blue in cricket, as well as in rugby union which he played for the university.<ref name = "FREE"/> Having played a single Minor Counties Championship match for Cambridgeshire in 1971 against Shropshire,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/22/22918/Minor_Counties_Championship_Matches.html|title=Minor Counties Championship Matches played by Keith Steele|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=26 April 2011}}</ref> Steele played a single List A match for the county in the 1972 Gillette Cup against Buckinghamshire.<ref name = "LAM"/>
Upon returning to New Zealand, Steele played for Auckland, making his debut for the team in a List A fixture against Wellington in December 1974. This was his final List A match.<ref name = "LAM"/> Later in December 1974, he made his first-class debut for Auckland against Central Districts. He played four further first-class matches up to January 1975, with his final fixture coming against Northern Districts.<ref name = "FCM"/> Steele had a more successful time with the ball for Auckland, taking 14 wickets at an average of 26.71, with best figures of 4/71.<ref name = "FCBO"/>
==Legal career== Steele spent four years with Crown Solicitors in Auckland, a role in which he advised the New Zealand Government. It was during this period that he met his future wife, Margaret L’Estrange, an Australian.<ref name = "FREE"/> After getting married, he moved to Sydney, Australia. It was there that he joined the legal firm Freehills in 1977. Twenty years later he was made the Sydney Chairman and a senior partner of the firm.<ref name = "FREE"/> Steele helped oversee the firm's transformation from a federation to a fully integrated national firm, which was achieved in 2000. From the years 2005 to 2008, he was the national Head of Litigation.<ref name = "FREE"/> He played a key role in establishing Freehills' pro bono programme in Sydney. He also helped orchestrate Freehills becoming a founding member of the Public Interest Law Clearing House. Steele served as a director of that body for nearly 10 years from its inception.<ref name = "FREE"/>
Outside of the legal firm, Steele served on the Administrative Law Committee of the New South Wales Law Society, the Law Council of Australia and as Chairman of the Customs Law Committee. He had also served on the International Trade and Business Committee of the Law Council and had previously been a member of the subcommittee on trade for the International Bar Association and a past vice-chairman of Committee O (international litigation) of the same organisation.<ref name = "FREE"/> In 1992, he helped set up the Shopfront Youth Legal Centre in Kings Cross, Sydney. He was also an author on legal matters, writing and contributing to many books.
Steele died suddenly on 7 June 2009, in Berrima, New South Wales. He was survived by his wife and three children.<ref name = "FREE"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{cricinfo|id=38554}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steele, Keith}} Category:1951 births Category:2009 deaths Category:Rugby union players from Auckland Category:New Zealand cricketers Category:Cambridge University cricketers Category:Cambridgeshire cricketers Category:New Zealand expatriate cricketers in England Category:Auckland cricketers Category:New Zealand rugby union players Category:20th-century New Zealand lawyers Category:New Zealand writers Category:New Zealand expatriates in Australia Category:Oxford and Cambridge Universities cricketers Category:21st-century New Zealand lawyers Category:Cambridge University R.U.F.C. players Category:People associated with Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer