They say nothing good ever happens after 2am and Steve O'Keefe can attest to that.
The Test spinner, who bowled his way into the record books with 12 wickets in a match against India in Pune last month, has been brought down to earth with a thud after being fined $20,000 over his drunken behaviour at the after-party of the Steve Waugh Medal in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Cricket Australia and Cricket NSW were in lockdown over the details of O'Keefe's code of conduct breach on Friday but it is understood that a complaint was made about the 32-year-old regarding offensive comments he made towards a female player.
Fairfax Media was told that O'Keefe also abused teammates and their partners in an alcohol-fuelled tirade at the Marble Bar at the Hilton, where players, staff and other guests had moved onto after NSW Cricket's night of nights in the main ballroom of the hotel on Saturday night.
A complaint was made, however, about particularly "highly inappropriate comments" he made in the presence of a member of the NSW women's team, the Breakers.
There were differing reports about whether NSW and CA were close to cutting up his contract but they settled on a heavy fine and also ordered him into counselling and banned him from next summer's Matador Cup domestic one-day tournament.
Guests at the awards night had noticed that O'Keefe, who had only returned home from the Test series in India on the day before, appeared intoxicated well before the incident.
An embarrassed O'Keefe did not make any excuses in a statement released by CA.
"At an official Cricket NSW function I became intoxicated and made highly inappropriate comments. There is no excuse for this and I take full responsibility and offer an unconditional apology," O'Keefe said in the statement.
It was his second alcohol-related indiscretion in the past eight months. He was fined $10,000 last August over a drunken run-in with staff and police at the Steyne Hotel in Manly. He told Fairfax Media last year he was taking a six-month break from alcohol following the incident in Manly and he will again endeavour to confront what appears to be an issue with drinking to excess.
"I accept the sanctions imposed by Cricket Australia and Cricket NSW and welcome the chance to receive specialist counselling," he said in the statement on Friday. "I have a big challenge ahead and I am determined to meet it with actions, not just words.
"To all of the members of the cricket family I love and respect so much, again, apologies for letting you down."
CA and CNSW would not elaborate on exactly what was said by O'Keefe and have endeavoured to maintain the privacy of the complainant.
It isn't good timing for O'Keefe, however, with CA still finalising the 2017/18 central contract list. The likely cancellation of Australia's Test series in Bangladesh later this year was already a blow for him in that respect as Steve Smith's side are not back in the sub-continent again during that contract period.
"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 team performance Pat Howard said.
"We're extremely disappointed this situation occurred, particularly on the back of a previous incident, and it now overshadows Stephen's on-field performance on the recent tour of India."
