Last words on Symonds and alcohol
As readers of Cricket Burble will know, I'm not entirely sure I agree with the way Andrew Symonds has been handled by Australia, so it was interesting to read a couple of recent articles relating to Symonds.
The first, from Australia and eloquently entitled "Cricket bosses are pompous wowsers", chastises the rest of the Australian team and management for not understanding that there is a life outside of cricket.
The second is an article from Mike Atherton in The Times, recognising just how closely linked alcohol and cricket are. He makes the point that Symonds thrived in the IPL under the stewardship of Darren Lehmann and Adam Gilchrist that like to enjoy their time outside cricket, while almost immediately falling foul of the Australian team management when he arrived in England. Atherton also reminds us that Ponting doesn't have a squeeky clean past when it comes to alcohol.
It's a pity Symonds didn't choose England. He would have played Test cricket much earlier in his career and I think he might have found it a little easier to play, despite the undoubted ultra-professional approach England have now, while still enjoying life outside cricket.
2 comments:
I agree with you. CA mishandled Symonds.
I don't have a poblem with players having a drink, but they have to be aware there is a time and a place. They also have to be aware that if they drink in public they are being watched and must behave accordingly. Andrew Symonds has proved himself unable to live by these rules on several occasions in the past. He's turned up to international matches drunk, behaved offensively in public and appeared on radio obviously under the influence. As a result he was given a strict set of rules regarding alcohol for the duration of the tour and he promptly broke them at his first opportunity. CA had no choice, he had to go.
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