Australian cricket legend Shane Warne has slammed Andrew Symonds over the “gone fishing” scandal, saying the all-rounder had shown the team a “lack of respect”.
Warne – no stranger to controversy or clashes with cricket authorities himself – said Symonds had let down his teammates by snubbing a team meeting ahead of the recent one-day series against Bangladesh in Darwin. He was fishing at the time.
That led to Symonds being kicked out of the Australian squad, missing the series and now being overlooked for selection of the upcoming Indian tour.
Symonds is believed to have not forgiven Cricket Australia for failing to support him earlier this year following his racial vilification allegation against India’s Harbhajan Singh.
His close friend Michael Clarke was stand-in captain at the time and part of the four-man leadership group that decided Symonds’ fate, and Warne says Symonds now owes Clarke an apology.
“I would have thought that if Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke were good friends then Symo would have more respect for Michael Clarke than that,’’ Warne told News Limited.
“I think it’s disappointing that he put a young captain like Michael Clarke in that position.
“It was disappointing from Symo, especially with the Australian team not having senior players like Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden there. It’s not a one-off thing and I just think Symo has showed a lack of respect.’’
Symonds is set to meet with sports psychologist Phil Jauncey this week in order to help determine whether he wants to continue his international career.
He is contracted for two more years with the Indian Premier League – where he can earn up to $1.47 million a season – but Warne says the all-rounder should strive to return to the international scene.
“He could do that and just take his cash from the IPL, but to me that would be the easy option,” Warne said.
“The hard option and the option that will satisfy him and earn him some respect is to come back a better person and show how important playing for Australia is to him.’’
