PUNE TEST HERO O’KEEFE MISSES OUT ON NATIONAL CONTRACT
Spin bowler Stephen O’Keefe has been omitted from Cricket Australia’s proposed list of players to be awarded national contracts for the 2017/18 season after being sanctioned for a second alcoholrelated offence in the space of a year. O’Keefe, Australia’s joint-highest wicket-taker along with Nathan Lyon during the recent test series in India, was slapped with a A$20,000 ($15,000) fine earlier this month for making “highly inappropriate comments” when drunk at an awards night in Sydney. O’Keefe was also fined for an alcohol-fuelled incident at a Sydney nightspot in August. Spinner Ashton Agar, who has not played a Test in nearly four years or an ODI since 2015, was named with all-rounder Hilton Cartwright and pacer Billy Stanlake.