Former Australian Test cricketer Stuart MacGill and a friend acted in a threatening manner towards a Sydney bar owner earlier this year, a court has been told.

MacGill, 51, is accused of stalking and verbally intimidating Samantha Ford while walking down Kemp Street in the Sydney CBD and then later at the Captain Cook Hotel on February 1 this year.

Giving evidence in the Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday, Ryan Entwistle said he witnessed the Kemp Street incident while he was having a drink with friends outside the Lord Nelson Hotel.

The 19-year-old described the conversation as being one-sided and at a relatively large volume, but did not pick up on any actual words spoken, except for “stick up your ass” or “stick it up your ass”.

“They were speaking to her in a kind of aggressive and threatening way,” he said.

Ford later spoke to Entwistle and his friends, telling them that either MacGill or his friend Stephen Michael Kerlin were her ex-partner or knew her ex-partner, the court heard.

Tony Ryder, a witness at the Captain Cook Hotel, said MacGill appeared to enter the pub while intoxicated. When Ms Ford came in soon after, the former cricketer lent over and screamed at her, he said.

“She just looked very frightened, clutching her dog,” he told the court.

Ryder could not recall which words were used, describing the incident as a full-on argument that was “a bit of a mess”.