Symonds sent home by Australia
Andrew Symonds sent home from World Twenty20 by Australia
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Thursday, 04, Jun 2009 10:08
All-rounder Andrew Symonds has been sensationally axed by the Australia selectors for the upcoming World Twenty20, which starts tomorrow.
Symonds, 33, has been sent home in disgrace after breaching team discipline at an event in London on Wednesday evening.
Cricket Australia would only confirm that the sanctions were imposed for an "alcohol-related incident" and that Symonds had been told this morning that he would not be allowed to remain in England.
Australia captain Ricky Ponting admitted being "disappointed" by Symonds' actions.
"Losing one of the best Twenty20 players in the world is disappointing, but he broke a number of commitments that he made," the skipper explained.
"They were not commitments forced upon him. They were his own commitments that he was going to live by."
He added: "He's let his team-mates down, he's let himself down and he's let Cricket Australia down."
Australia's squad, which is now only 14-strong, could be left one man short for the rest of the tournament if the International Cricket Council (ICC) rejects the team's application to call up a replacement due to "exceptional circumstances".
inthenews.co.uk understands that the ICC will make a decision over the prospect of calling up a replacement player by the end of today.
The Symonds incident is the latest in a long line of disciplinary issues surrounding the player, who has become a controversial character both on and off the field for Australia.
In the run-up to the 2005 Ashes series in England, the Queenslander was dropped for two one-day internationals after turning up drunk in Cardiff for a scheduled match against Bangladesh.
Last August, Symonds was sent home from the one-day series against the same opponents after missing a compulsory team meeting in Darwin, apparently to go fishing.
Then in November he was involved in a drunken incident at a hotel in Brisbane after a night out drinking with the Australian rugby league team in the city.
Asked if the most recent incident would signal the end of Symonds' international cricket career - especially after he missed out on Ashes selection this summer - Ponting hinted that it could, although stopped short of confirming it.
"He is contracted up until 30th June and we'll see what happens from there," he added.