Australia’s Steve O’Keefe slapped with $20,000 fine for drunken behaviour

Steve O’Keefe was also charged $10,00 last year for offensive conduct at a Sydney pub. (Source: Reuters)

Australian spinner Steve O’Keefe was on Friday charged by Cricket Australia for drunken behaviour. Cricket Australia said in a statement that O’Keefe had made “highly inappropriate comments whilst under the influence of alcohol” and has been charged $20,000 for the offence. He also has reportedly been excluded from playing in Australia’s domestic competition towards the end of the year.

“Stephen has not upheld the standards expected of a NSW and Australian cricketer in the aftermath of the India tour where he proudly represented his state and country,” Cricket NSW CEO Andrew Jones said on Friday, “As this is his second recent offence we believe a strong penalty is appropriate. At Cricket NSW, we want all our people to achieve their potential on and off the field and Stephen needs to refocus himself on that task.”

O’Keefe had earlier been fined $10,000 for offensive conduct at a Sydney pub in August, 2016. His recent actions had taken place in a Cricket NSW function and is a level two offence according to Cricket Australia’s Code of Conduct. CA also said the spinner will also undergo “further appropriate counselling”.

Steve O’Keefe was the star of Australia’s convincing win over India in the first of the four match Border-Gavaskar series at Pune. On track that turned out to be a rank turner, O’Keefe took six wickets in both innings. India were dismissed for 105 and 109 runs in the match that led to a 333-run victory for Australia. It was O’Keefe’s first series in India.