Star all-rounder Andrew Symonds felt the backlash Sunday after his latest disciplinary misdemeanour saw him dumped from the Australian squad for the current one-day series against Bangladesh.
Symonds was sent home in disgrace after deciding to go fishing rather than attend a compulsory team meeting on Friday ahead of Saturday's opening game of the series, which Australia went on to win comfortably.
Australian coach Tim Nielsen was left querying Symonds' state of mind. "They don't miss a thing and they are always early and presented as well as they possibly can," Nielsen said of the Australian players. "When somebody hasn't got the information that they need or hasn't turned up on time it's usually due to the fact they're away from us and the group a little bit mentally.
"That always raises concerns." Despite a chequered off-field record that had previously threatened to prematurely curtail the career of one of the world's best limited-overs players, Cricket Australia has so far resisted the temptation to tear up Symonds' lucrative playing contract. He was dealt a two-match suspension in 2005 for turning up to a game drunk and had been warned he is on his last chance.
Symonds' manager, Matt Fearon, said his client was pondering his future and conceded there was some uncertainty over the upcoming tour of India.
"Andrew's going to take some time to reflect on what's happened," Fearon said. "He's still committed to playing cricket at the highest level. "How he goes about doing that and how it plays out I don't know. "Whether it means India I don't know." The response in Australian newspapers to Symonds' latest dramas was not favourable. "The Queenslander, who these days carries himself with such an arrogant swagger that even his team-mates sometimes shake their heads, has become too big for his boots," the Sunday Telegraph said. "Symonds treats just about everyone with disdain-rival players, journalists, his employers and even some of his teammates."
The Sunday Mail noted that Symonds had betrayed the trust of stand-in captain Michael Clarke, who had been one of the Queenslander's biggest supporters. "On the 2006 South African tour, it was Clarke-six years younger than Symonds-who quelled a potential fight between Symonds and a Cheetahs rugby union player in Cape Town night-club Hemisphere," the Sunday Mail said.
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