Symonds sent home for alcohol incident

Alex Brown
June 4, 2009

	Ricky Ponting is set to be without Andrew Symonds for the ICC World Twenty20 which starts on Friday © Getty Images
Related Links Player/Officials: Andrew Symonds Series/Tournaments: ICC World Twenty20 Teams: Australia

Andrew Symonds has been sent home from the ICC World Twenty20 for an "alcohol-related incident", throwing Australia's plans for the tournament into disarray.

According to Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland, "the final straw" came when Symonds, 33, broke team rules related to alcohol and other issues. The captain, Ricky Ponting, is due to address the media in London at 1pm.

Symonds attended a PCA dinner with the Twenty20 squad at a Kensington hotel on Wednesday night, but was a notable absentee at Australia's training session at The Oval on Thursday, prompting speculation that he was on his way home.

Following a series of misdemeanours in the past 12 months, Symonds was on a final warning from Cricket Australia, and there is the strong possibility that this latest incident will lead to the withdrawal of his central contract, which Sutherland admitted was "under review".

Sutherland said at a press conference in Melbourne that Symonds had broken a number of rules "in the last 24-48 hours" and CA were now organising flights to get him back to Australia.

"In isolation, the breaches that I am talking about are not serious, but in the scheme of things, in the scheme of history, they are enough for it to be the final straw. I'm disappointing in Andrew, but I'm also disappointed for Andrew. I'm sad about it."

Symonds has been involved in numerous off-field incidents in recent seasons, most notably the Darwin fishing saga in August 2008, during which he missed a team meeting ahead of the one-day series against Bangladesh, which prompted the team management to send him home from the series.

In addition, he was fined Aus$4000 for a drunken radio interview in January 2009 in which he referred to the New Zealand wicketkeeper Brendan McCullum as "a piece of s..." Symonds apologised, having admitted that alcohol was playing a big part in his life, and he subsequently stated that he was "entering the final chapter of his career".

Despite retaining his central contract only last month, Symonds was omitted from Australia's Ashes squad in favour of Andrew McDonald and Shane Watson. After 26 Tests and 198 ODIs dating back to November 1998, it is hard to see how his career can possibly recover from this latest episode.

Alex Brown is deputy editor of Cricinfo. Inputs from Andrew Miller and Peter English