A remorseful former Australian cricketer Dean Jones arrived in Melbourne after being sacked for referring to a Muslim South African Test player as a terrorist.

Jones' South African television employer sacked him immediately as a commentator after he referred on-air to South Africa's Muslim batsman Hashim Amla as a terrorist.

Jones who flew into Melbourne on a flight from Colombo where he was covering the second Test between Sri Lanka and South Africa admitted he had done a stupid thing.

"I waited four or five seconds and I just turned around and made a stupid, ridiculous off-the-wall comment that unfortunately was picked up in the background and as television people always know the microphone is always live," Jones said.

"There was only one country in the world that didn't take the ad break live and that was South Africa.

"It was picked up by a few viewers.

"I wanted to make a full blown apology to Hashim Amla and the South African team so I wrote out a full page apology expressing my sincerest apology to all involved."

Jones said he had since apologised to Hashim Amla in person, and was grateful for the opportunity to have done so.

"I got hold of Hashim Amla and I spoke to him for a certain amount of time," he said.

"I gave him my sincerest apologies and he was gracious enough to accept it.

"He said I hope you get through this ugly situation that you are going through."

Jones said the blunder has cost him financially.

"I miss out on one Test day as well as seven one-day internationals so it has cost me a lot of money," he said.

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