Symonds axed from Australia A team

June 30th, 2009 WORCESTER - Australian vice-captain Michael Clarke says the squad often thinks about former teammate Andrew Symonds. Clarke said the Australian players were continually talking about the Queensland allrounder.

June 29th, 2009 BRISBANE - Sacked Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds has denied that he is an alcoholic, but admitted to being a binge drinker. In an interview on Nine Network's Sixty Minutes last night, Symonds said: "I am not an alcoholic, I have been diagnosed as a binge drinker.

June 22nd, 2009 MELBOURNE - Troubled all rounder Andrew Symonds, whose Cricket Australia contract was ripped for breaking team rules, has started playing for Wynnum-Manly rugby league club to fulfill a dream. Symonds, after withdrawal of his contract, is now free to play sports deemed too risky for his physical wellbeing when he was a CA contracted player.

June 22nd, 2009 SYDNEY - Andrew Symonds swapped the green and gold jersey of the Australia cricket team for the green and red of Wynnum-Manly to fulfil his dream of playing a senior rugby league match. Symonds has been stripped of his central contract by Cricket Australia (CA) and now the Queenslander is free to play rugby which was deemed too risky for his physical well-being when he was a contracted player.

June 12th, 2009 SYDNEY - Queensland cricket might have found itself a little extra money to offer to Andrew Symonds for 2009-10 but it seems that the all-rounder is no mood to play serious cricket any more. The Australian reported that Queensland were initially keen to have Symonds back, but since they had already offered contracts to players for next summer, they had no money left to offer to the cricketer.

June 12th, 2009 MELBOURNE - Cricket Australia have withdrawn their contract offer to troubled all-rounder Andrew Symonds and added injury-prone speedster Shaun Tait to their 25-man list. Cricket Australia chief operations manager Michael Brown on Friday confirmed he had informed Symonds that his contract offer had been pulled following his latest alcohol-related indiscretion this month in England.

June 11th, 2009 SYDNEY - Former Australian opener Michael Slater feels troubled all-rounder Andrew Symonds has lost his spark to play for the national team and is driven by big bucks. In fact, the former Ashes hero believes Symonds won't play again for Australia and will be looking at options overseas.

June 9th, 2009 SYDNEY - Controversial Australian all rounder Andrew Symonds has admitted that he has certain issues with the new young players of the national squad, due to which he is unable to gel with the young brigade. Symonds has reportedly told his close friends that he simply cannot relate to the younger players in the team, and would be announcing his retirement from international cricket later this week.

June 8th, 2009 MELBOURNE - Troubled all rounder Andrew Symonds, who was send back to Australia from Twenty 20 World Cup in England for breaking alcohol related rules, has "numerous" foreign offers before him as he mulls over whether to continue playing in Australia. Symonds is expected to decide this week if he will attempt to play for Queensland in the domestic competition after his international career was reported to be almost over.

June 6th, 2009 BRISBANE - Cricketer Andrew Symonds returned to Brisbane on Saturday and admitted he needed time to consider what he was going to do about his playing future. Symonds arrived at Brisbane Airport just before 7 a.m.

June 6th, 2009 MELBOURNE - Former Australian coach John Buchanan has vowed to mentor and support out of favour all-rounder Andrew Symonds through his life and cricket crisis. Buchanan pledged he would be there for Symonds in some of his darkest hours and urged friends of the all rounder not to desert him.

June 5th, 2009 LONDON - Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting believes Cricket Australia officials did all they could for Andrew Symonds before banishing the wayward all-rounder from the World Twenty20 squad over another alcohol-related incident. "We gave him the appropriate amount of time, he'd done everything that was required of him, and unfortunately for him and for us, he's come back in and this has happened again," Fox Sports quoted Ponting, as saying.

June 5th, 2009 SYDNEY - Former Australian wicketkeeper Ian Healy has said that all-rounder Andrew Symonds is secretly relieved to be out of the running, as he was 'tired of cricket' and wanted to be dropped from national duty. The Herald Sun quoted Healy, as saying that his fellow Queenslander might be happy now to play a short stint each year in the lucrative Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament and pick up an English County contract, as long as their "team rules" weren't too strict.

June 5th, 2009 SYDNEY - Controversial Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds career may just be contained playing the Indian Premier League (IPL), as the Cricket Australia (CA) mulls over ending his central contract. The CA is expected to discuss whether Symonds should be allowed to retain the contract after he broke a number of team rules related to alcohol and other issues ahead of the World Twenty20 cricket tournament in England, The Australian reports.

June 4th, 2009 MELBOURNE - Troubled all-rounder Andrew Symonds is being sent home from the World Twenty20 cricket tournament in England for breaking a number of team rules related to alcohol and other issues. It is likely Symonds' international career could now be over after the latest in a long list of problems off the field.