Cricket star Stuart MacGill tells court of drinking bout before allegedly abusing his friend’s ex

Former Test cricketer Stuart MacGill shed tears of joy before drinking six or seven bourbon and cokes in an hour-and-a-half and allegedly intimidating one of his best friend’s former partners, a court has heard.

MacGill, 51, is accused of stalking and verbally intimidating his friend’s former fiancee Samantha Ford while walking down a Sydney CBD street, and then at a nearby pub on February 1, 2022.

He spent that morning worrying ‘one of my best friends’ Stephen Kerlin was suicidal, having been unable to contact him, MacGill told Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday.

MacGill was worried for Kerlin’s mental health following the end of his relationship with Ms Ford some months earlier, he said.

He went to Kerlin’s Barangaroo apartment after hearing others had not been able to contact him.

MacGill (pictured outside court on Monday) told the court that he had several drinks with his good friend Stephen Kerlin on the day of the alleged offence

‘I rang on the doorbell and he came to the door in his pyjamas and I started crying,’ MacGill said.

They then celebrated, with MacGill drinking ‘six or seven’ bourbon and cokes at the apartment before kicking on to Kerlin’s preferred local, the Captain Cook Hotel.

As they walked, Kerlin spotted Ms Ford, pointing her out to MacGill and yelling towards her.

”F*** off, leave us alone you b****”, that sort of stuff,’ MacGill said.

Ms Ford then began approaching and MacGill told her to go away, he said.

‘My intention was to go to the Captain Cook, so I was pretty keen on just ploughing on,’ he said.

Minutes later, a bartender at the hotel was telling Kerlin and Ms Ford to leave following a loud argument MacGill said he was only ‘on the periphery’ of.

The cricket great (pictured with Maria O’Meagher) revealed that he burst into tears when he saw Kerlin, who he feared was suicidal at the time

Ms Ford told the court on Monday she went to the Captain Cook Hotel to tell staff not to serve the pair more alcohol.

‘(MacGill) came up first, and said something like ‘f*** off you c***’, then he said he was going to call the police, and he said ‘you’re going down, you’re not welcome here’,’ Ms Ford said.

Ms Ford said MacGill stood over the top of her yelling abuse.

MacGill denied trying to intimidate Ms Ford or swearing at her, but agreed he did point in Ms Ford’s face as he told her he was calling police.

‘They’d broken up and have family law issues which have nothing to do with me, but I knew … we needed to move out of that situation,’ MacGill said.

Captain Cook Hotel local Mark Austin told the court MacGill did not appear threatening while at the hotel, but acknowledged he could not hear specifics of the argument.

MacGill (pictured playing in a Test against the West Indies in 2001) admitted that he hadn’t told police everything in a recorded interview about the incident

MacGill rang Detective Sergent Brett Whitmore, a police officer he had unrelated interactions with, for advice.

‘(MacGill) said words similar to ‘she’s going crazy, what should I do’?’ Det Sgt Whitmore said.

‘I told him I was at home and he should contact triple zero,’ he said.

MacGill told the court he did not call triple zero, believing the incident over after Kerlin and Ms Ford left the hotel.

During cross-examination from prosecutor Sergeant Michael Cleaver, MacGill acknowledged he had not told police everything when he gave a recorded interview after the incident, but denied lying to protect his friend, describing some mistakes in his evidence as a poor choice of words.

‘I’m a sportsman, not a wordsmith,’ MacGill told the court.

He remains on bail awaiting the court’s decision, which is not expected until at least April.