O’Keefe banned, fined for alcohol-fuelled incident

TIL Desk Sports/ Australian spinner Stephen O’Keefe has been fined 20,000 dollars and banned from next season’s Matador BBQ’s One-Day Cup after making “highly inappropriate comments” while drunk during a cricket award ceremony held last week.

The incident took place after the official ceremonies concluded at the Steve Waugh Medal, the Cricket NSW end-of-season function. Confirming the news, Cricket Australia (CA) said that O’Keefe had been penalised for a level two Code of Conduct offence following the remarks he made under the influence of alcohol.

The CA further said that the 32-year-old would now also be required to undergo counselling, cricket.com.au reported. “There is no time or place for unacceptable behaviour from any of our players in Australian Cricket, and we continue to take a zero-tolerance approach to this,” CA head of team performance Pat Howard said.