It would have taken someone of the astuteness of Nostradamus to have even attempted to predict the kind of mess that the Australian cricket finds itself in at this current point in time. And this incorporates an abyss-like list of on-field and off the ground incidents in the last one year or so that have shaken the very foundations on which Australian cricket was based on – and took immense pride in – till very recently. The latest in the line of these events has had Cricket Australia restrict the cricketing career of a potential match-winner-turned-bad-boy, the Shoaib Akhtar of Aussie cricket, Andrew Symonds. 
It may sound a trifle harsh, but one does get a sense that if one were to put a number to it, a high percentage of Australia’s current problems can be attributed to Symonds. One would remember the now-so-infamous Sydney test match, which had not only seen him get to a very chancy century – aided in part by a certain gentleman in the white coat called Bruce Oxenford – but also get him involved in a ruckus where he accused Harbhajan Singh of making racial slurs. Many people remember – and take sides – that particular incident, but there is a tendency to forget what exactly spurred it on. It had been a gentle, friendly, well-bowled-mate sort of a tap on Brett Lee’s backside by Harbhajan – the batsman – that had got Symmo going with a tirade, and an unnecessary one at that. Days later, Judge Hansen had made it amply clear in his judgement that Symonds’ reaction to that friendly gesture was not only unnecessary, but also rubbed it further in by saying that, “if that is his view I hope it is not one shared by all international cricketers” 
Symonds, many say, felt let down the Australian cricket board, who, he thought had essentially sold their soul to appease a stronger board. It may have been very well the case. What, however, was shocking was Symonds’ reaction to an attempt at congratulating the bowler for having bowled a good ball without getting the batsman out, by – surprise surprise – the batsman himself!
The floodgates opened after that. It looked like Symmo needed a touch to be heaved down a cliff, and he had been actually shoved down. If ever a reason was needed to hit the bottle as hard as he did, it had been this. Friendships were forgotten and so were team buses and meetings, as Symonds tried to seek solace in his favourite hobbies, something that did not go down too well with the cricket board. Symonds was involved in a squabble with his one-time friend, Michael Clarke in a pub – that eventually saw him shown the door for the tour of India. To top it all, despite all the counselling sessions, he was found in places where he shouldn’t have been; at drinking houses which have had a reputation of being menace-making.
This was followed by a quick apology, a misdemeanour – the Brendon McCullum one – another apology and finally another counselling session while team-mates would slog it out in South Africa. The good news for Symonds would obviously be the fact that it would give him an opportunity to participate in the full season of the IPL, thus putting a staggering million dollars in his bank account; all for calling McCullum a lump of s***!
One does feel that one hasn’t heard the last of this.
