Symonds lets down his best mates
Andrew Symonds' latest indiscretion is a major letdown for one of his best mates, Michael Clarke, writes Jon Pierik in the Sunday Mail .
Brydon Coverdale
25-Feb-2013
Andrew Symonds' latest indiscretion is a major letdown for one of his best mates, Michael Clarke, writes Jon Pierik in the Sunday Mail.
Clarke is not only a young, inexperienced captain who shouldn't have to put up with disciplinary issues, he is also the man who twice has tried to save Symonds through his tumultuous career. On the 2006 South African tour, it was Clarke - six years younger than Symonds - who quelled a potential fight between Symonds and a Cheetahs rugby union player in Cape Town nightclub Hemisphere.
And it was Clarke on the 2005 Ashes tour who did his best to sober up Symonds after his now infamous alcohol-fuelled march around Cardiff nightclubs on the eve of Australia's one-day match against Bangladesh.
Ben Dorries writes in the Sunday Telegraph that Symonds' attitude has become so poor that there is no guarantee he will want to come back into the Australia team.
The Queenslander, who these days carries himself with such an arrogant swagger that even his team-mates sometimes shake their heads, has become too big for his boots. Symonds treats just about everyone with disdain - rival players, journalists, his employers and even some of his team-mates.
Brydon Coverdale is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets here