Symonds feared early send-off

Andrew Symonds, who returned to the Australian team with a bang after a two-match ban for disciplinary reasons, feared that he could be sent packing midway through the tour. Symonds clattered 73 in Australia's 57-run win against England, but later admitted, "Yeah, many things went through my mind."

Symonds was left out of the team for two matches after he was found to be in an unfit condition to play, following a late-night drinking binge before Australia's first match of the NatWest Series, against Bangladesh. "It was the worst I've ever felt, sitting out that particular day," Symonds is quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press. "I felt like I'd had my insides ripped out, it was a terrible feeling. But on the flipside of that, [the win against England] was a great feeling to be back and actually get a bonus point as well."

Meanwhile Marcus Trescothick, leading England in Michael Vaughan's absence through injury, said, "I think Australia played pretty well so all credit to them. They put a lot of pressure on us when we batted. We lost early wickets and were on the back foot all the way in."

"I'll be hearing about it for a long time but he's been working hard on his batting," Trescothick is quoted as saying on the BBC website, about Darren Gough's career-best 45 that gave the England innings some respectability.

Ricky Ponting, for his part, was happy at the manner in which his team had turned it around. "The opening bowlers were fantastic," he said. "Bowling at pace and swinging it is always going to make it tough for the opposition. The guys have really stuck together after Sunday's loss and we hope to keep on improving from now on."