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O'Keefe to stay off alcohol after hotel incident

Spinner Steve O'Keefe has vowed to quit drinking for the summer in an effort to give himself the best possible chance of representing Australia again

Steve O'Keefe was injured during the first Test in Sri Lanka  •  Associated Press

Steve O'Keefe was injured during the first Test in Sri Lanka  •  Associated Press

Spinner Steve O'Keefe has vowed to quit drinking for the summer in an effort to give himself the best possible chance of representing Australia again. O'Keefe was last month fined $10,000 by Cricket Australia after a late-night incident at a Sydney hotel, in which police alleged O'Keefe "behaved offensively toward a security guard" who had refused him entry.
That incident came after O'Keefe returned home early from the tour of Sri Lanka having suffered a hamstring injury during the first Test in Pallekele. It was the third Test of O'Keefe's career and with a tour of India scheduled for early next year, if he can remain fit and controversy-free he will likely come under consideration for that trip.
O'Keefe said he had decided to focus his attention on more specific training and an increased focus on recovery, and would stay away from alcohol for the 2016-17 season in an effort to make the most of his career.
"I'm getting older and I'm getting injuries like the hamstring, which I'd never done before, and if I want to at my age give myself a realistic chance of having the long career that I want then I need to be doing these other things outside the game," O'Keefe told the Sydney Morning Herald.
"It's not something I go around touting to every individual. I'm planning to go the cricket season [without alcohol]. It's not for everyone. I love a beer and having a beer at the end of the game with your mates you certainly got a lot out of. You sit back and relax and some of those conversations you have really extend your cricket.
"But I think for me right now it's the best thing I can do to give myself every chance of playing the best cricket and being as healthy as I possibly can. I'm into day 31, I've been ticking them off."
The incident at the Steyne Hotel was the result of a build-up of frustration for O'Keefe, whose three Tests have been spread across three different series, including a near wash-out at the SCG last summer. He had also been named in Australia's squad for last year's tour of Bangladesh, which was cancelled due to security reasons, and then was injured in Sri Lanka.
"I think I mainly just felt sorry for myself," O'Keefe said. "I'd been home for a week and I felt like I had things under wraps and then you have a couple of drinks and those other thoughts that are sitting around in the back of your head start to come to fruition. You think, 'is that it? Is that your last opportunity to play cricket for Australia?'
"When you go home and you're on your own, you sit down and reflect on it and the Test is on the TV, it's a hard thing to take. Obviously it's fair to say I didn't handle it appropriately at all."
O'Keefe spoke to police the day after the incident and apologised to the hotel manager.