Steve O’Keefe confirms six-month no alcohol rule

Australian bowler Steve O’Keefe has confirmed the fact that he has quit the consumption of alcohol for the following six months. The 31-year old left-arm spinner came back from the Sri Lankan tour rather prematurely when he suffered what seemed to be a hamstring injury in the first Test match. However, after coming back, O’Keefe was involved in a brawl with a policeman in Sydney, something that has made him somewhat infamous.

The incident not only saw him fined $10,000 but also have a bad fall out with the Australian Cricket Board as he now stands the risk of never playing for Australia again. Unwilling to give excuses, O’Keefe said that he would denounce alcohol for the next few months, something that seems self-imposed at the moment.

“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,” he said.

“It’s not something I go around touting to every individual. I’m planning to go [without alcohol for] the cricket season. 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.

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“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 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?’