Symonds Apologises, Ponting Sympathizes, CA Inquires

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Sreelata YellamrazuJan 27 2009

Andrew Symonds has a nasty disease of putting his foot in his mouth and then, apologizing for it. But by the looks of things, Ricky Ponting is not too sorry about it, or perhaps he cannot afford to be.

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Symonds found himself in a troubled sport once again when he called New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum ‘a lump of s***’ but has not apologized stating his words had been taken out of context, although there is very little to interpret in what he said.

Here is a sample of his apology, “I wish to sincerely apologise to Brendon McCullum for my comments during the radio interview with Roy and HG on Friday afternoon. My intentions for this interview were light-hearted and my comments no way reflect the respect that I have for McCullum both on and off the field. I understand how this has been received differently to the way in which I intended to express myself and for that I am extremely sorry. I wish Brendon nothing but success in his cricket and for the future.”

Cricket Australia though will decide on a Bode of behaviour breach that may see Symonds in rehab for a second time and also, miss out on the tour to South Africa for the statement that follows a string of misdemenours that also saw him undergo rehabilitation sessions.

Ricky Ponting, the Australian skipper, though appeared in two minds when speaking about Symonds in the local newspapers, “I'd like to have a good conversation with him about the whole situation. As part of the leadership group in the Australian team, it's part of my job to do that, “I'd like to consider, if I was in that situation, I wouldn't have done that. So Andrew's going to have a look at that radio interview and work out for himself if he's done something wrong. He's not part of our current set-up at the moment, and I don't think there's ever been anything in place to say that he can't actually go out and have a drink. Does he need more rehab? That's up to him and his counsellor to work out. He has been [vital] for us over the last three or four seasons in one-day cricket and, in the last two in Tests, he's been a vital cog in our side," he said. "No one can ever doubt his cricket ability, talent and match-winning abilities. So hopefully everything keeps progressing with him and his fitness and we can get to the bottom of this issue, move on and let him worry about his cricket.”

Jimmy Maher, his former Queensland captain, was more supportive of Symonds and telling “Australian” newspaper, “I just think we are getting a bit precious aren't we? You'd swear he'd murdered someone the way some people are carrying on. It's not that big a deal. He came out and apologised. anyway, it was a light-hearted radio gig. Roy and HG say those sort of things all the time, that's the flavour of the show, it's a bit of carry-on and he hasn't meant anything by it.”

McCullum though has brushed it off saying that everyone was entitled to their opinion and that his only immediate concern was cricket and for the moment, he was happy enjoying it.

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