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Brian Lara faced his demons a decade ago. More recently, Marcus Trescothick and Shaun Tait have been forced out of the international game for similar reasons. Like Symonds, they are not bad men. Just confused and alienated, owing their fame, fortune and disenchantment to the same mistress.

International cricket is going to face this situation increasingly more often I fear. Australian cricket especially, just seeing the end of the first generation of ‘career cricketers’ (since the game went fully professional at first-class level in the late 1990s) is going to have to deal with young men who have made a life out of cricket but may not have a life outside of cricket. It is a poignant difference.

For three years, I helped look after the cricketers who were coming through the Centre of Excellence (formerly Cricket Academy) who were resident on campus at Griffith University. To their credit, Cricket Australia runs some excellent educational programs to help these cricketers with life skills, not just cricket ones. I witnessed many young men who realised that cricket was a precious gift and they treated it as such. There were also a small minority who treated their talent as a birthright. Cricket owed them but they never saw that it could also own them.

These young stars of the future are acutely aware of their earning potential. It is a ‘front-end loaded’ career that promises great wealth. Some of them, sadly, never grasp the complexity of the symbiotic relationship between talent, commercial success, sponsorships, media attention and ultimately, a loss of privacy.

Put simply, one cannot expect to volunteer for a life in the spotlight (note, I deliberately said “volunteer”) and then expect a life of relative anonymity whenever it suits. Any celebrity will tell you that. The minute you cash those cheques, you agree to a life as more than just an on-field gladiator. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Sponsors can be ruthless paymasters.

It is this sort of attention that threatens to end the career of a wonderful cricketer. By all accounts, Symonds just wants to be left alone to hunt pigs, catch fish and hit big sixes. Perhaps he never quite understood that life in the spotlight is not that simple. By virtue of his aura and presence, sought by advertisers and seduced by managers, Symonds is now public property. He is not the first sports star to resent that. He won’t be the last.

The word on the streets of Brisbane is that this is no ransom note or false alarm. His confusion is genuine and his anger at being dropped from the Australian team is very real. No one knows whether he will walk away or return to thrill us again. He’s a special talent and will be a loss to the game. He needs a good friend whom he trusts to remind him that there will always be plenty of fish in the sea but his career needn’t sink to the bottom of the ocean just yet.

Symonds might be a cult figure , but he hasnt sure found a way to mix pleasure and professionalism in a right time. He gotta remember that he is in a team where one bad performance can open pandora to lot of skilled players in the bench who just pounce on opportunities like a fish thrown into the net. I realise that privacy was still part of everyone's life but symonds could have excused himself out of the training citing some personal reasons, instead he preferred to tackle it in his way like tackling a streaker on a field. So symmo, try to find a balance. we all love you and your game. we want you back.

Symonds is the same carefree, outdoorsy guy that he has always been. It's his so called mates that have changed their colors and shown their true feelings toward him.
During the monkey gate controversy I could sense that Symonds was being used by his team mates.
Normally Aussies trash talk their opponents but this time they used him as the tool of attack, by 'backing' him and encouraging him to file a complaint. When push came to shove, of course they backed out and left him high and dry. Symonds was naive to believe that his team mates and his cricket board would really back him all the way. When it turned out to be otherwise, he became disenchanted and has justly been simmering ever since. Shame on Australian media for portaying him as having grown too big for his boots. Which star cricketer does not have a swagger and distractions from various off field commitments? It's not like other stars are all altar boys either. So, stop dissecting Symonds' character and let him be.

Symonds is a rough cut rock. One's got to be polished in public life - celebrity or not. If not, well you tend to be ostracized from the mainstream. You can indeed be a rebel, and yet conform at the same time, but you have to find that delicate balance. Andre Agassi was one such. With Symonds, I doubt that is possible. Classic idiom that 'you can't have your cake and eat it too'.

That said, I think both Symonds rebelliousness, and his punishment (being hung out to dry, not the banishment) were childish to say the least.

Personally, I enjoy a good game of cricket. Whether Symonds walks away or stays on is immaterial - like Bhajji said.

..."young men who have made a life out of cricket but may not have a life outside of cricket"

Jeh, it seems to be that Symonds is being ostracized for having a life outside cricket. And a personality of his own, rather than being some earnest institute clone who has no interests outside of cricket ( except for some good wife at home, bringing up the kids).

I could hardly be bothered to watch the Darwin series - not because it was Bangladesh, but because the current team, barring Roy and the absent Hayden, are so dull. No charisma, no presence, no X-factor. Who can get excited about obsessive compulsive Mr Cricket, shane, shaun, White, hopes, and the rest of the ( white) sheep?

Agreed that he was arrogant but have you noticed the punishment meted out to Mark Waugh & Shane Warne for admitting to taking bribes from a bookie during the Match fixing scandal? A rap on the knuckles eh? For an allegation that saw Azharuddin, Jadeja, Cronje, Salim Malik, etc. facing life bans.

However arrogant/stubborn he is, he wears his heart on his sleeves & is the ultimate fighter for his team. You have such experienced sportmen/psychologists in Australia who can sit down & tackle him. Infact he should feel shortchanged after the Monkeygate Scandal, he got a raw deal.

Andrew Symmonds....a name that is synonymous with controversies. Right from the verbal spats with Bhajji to the recent issue of going on a fishing spree and not attending a team meeting, Symmo has seen it all. He is one player who can come and change the entire complexion of the game be it with the bat, ball or on the field. Who can forget the magnificent 143 that he stroked against Pakistan in the World Cup that took the Aussies to victory, or his part time spinners or medium pace or the way he throws himself to save the extra runs for his team....his commitment on the field is unquestionable.He is one player who wears his heart on his sleeve when takes on the field. He needs some counselling to come back properly and i am sure if he is able to control his aggressive streak, the game of cricket will be the biggest beneficiary.

Thanks for all the comments. It's great to see a wide variety of views with none of the vitriol that sometimes accompanies different opinions.
A lot of 'normal' people are now starting to wonder what sort of dream job allows someone to get paid this much with all the other trappings and when they break team/company rules, they get as much time off as they want on full pay. I'm generalising a bit here so perhaps that is not 100% accurate but you get my drift I hope.
Working with athletes like this every day, I get the impression that with the big money and the relaxed lifestyles (apart from training), young kids coming through the system just view professional sport as a job without social consequences. "So long as I win games for my team, someone will always be there to bail me out off the field". And then, they take one step too far, the safety net is removed without warning and they fall off the edge. As they fall into the abyss, they must be wondering "why no safety net now"?

Oh Rusty give the young fellows a go. You could've said the same abt Haydos 10 yrs ago. There are alot of exciting players coming through.White is a big hitter, Watson has great potential if he can just stay fit and Marsh looked great all series and the IPL before it.
BD were out manned. But Tamim Iqbal looks a terrific striker and S. Hossain looks more impressive than the last time I saw him and is teaming nicely with Mortaza. Ashraful needs to set an example of discipline. BD have some big hitters and are mighty impressive in the field.
I think its exciting and refreshing to see so many new players in our side and theirs. So in a way it was good some of the old stars were resting injuries. The old crew were starting to look a little samey.

"It's great to see a wide variety of views with none of the vitriol that sometimes accompanies different opinions."
Ah, but you censure comments under the pretext of "vitriol" when they provide *another* viewpoint. Its hard for someone NOT to note the subtle racial overtones in the article and exposes yet another avenue of Australian hypocrisy. An Indian calls a black man a "monkey" and all of Australia (and a few other, urm, allies) condemn his racist behavior with every last ounce of "vitriol" but an Australian of Asian origin can talk of "simple and savage pleasures of a life in the bush" and "left alone to hunt pigs, catch fish" (words that could quite easily have been phrased differently, it is hard to believe these were not deliberately chosen) and these *slight*s can be categorically ignored. My point you ask... The article is critical of Symond's inability to adjust to deal with the social consequences and provides the author opportunity to use unnecessary racial references.

Great article Fox, it's easy to forget the invasion of privacy that comes with being thrust into the spotlight. There's a very human element in this article.

It's difficult to fully judge whether this is part of a series of misdemeanors or an isolated incident with an overreaction. Roy's character is difficult to assess as he doesn't appreciate the need for him to behave responsibly in the same vein as he doesn't feel it is right to invade his privacy.

A conundrum, but hopefully one that can be solved

Roy's predicament is to be squarely blamed on his skipper Ponting, who game him so much leeway everytime his 'arrogant bully' persona came to the fore. If he had been checked and admonished in the initial stages, then this would not have happened. Along with Hayden, he was a member of the street-pusher gang within the Aussie team. Ponting endorsed this. Thankfully Clarke has got a much better head on his shoulders.

But I believe, and pray, that this guy will come out of the doldrums very soon, chastened and much better sportsman - a terminology that increasingly finds itself isolated from the classical definition of all-round physical, mental and social ability... he should, however, definitely skip the India tour. A monumental loss for his team, and us the paying public, but better for everyone in the long run!

"good on you for being on the lookout for racism!" WOW, thats rich! Lets see, if Harbhajan had written those very sentences, do you really believe the reaction would have been the same? I don't think so. Any reference to climbing poles, savage pleasures, life in the bush (not every bush is aussie) cannot be entertained after Ponting decided to complain. Sorry, you guys asked for it. Then we have McGrath threatening to sure Mahanama for something which only he seems not to have heard himself saying...
But I guess the hypocrisy can be seen in this light? Which country did not allow immigrants whose skin color was anything but white upto 1967? In recent times in a certain country applications for Islamic schools have been rejected by the community while Brothels have been given the go ahead... like the lady on CNN yelled "WE'RE AUSSIES, WE ARE NOT MUSLIMS!" And you call harbhajan a racist, you guys are a joke

Ajax, I must confess that I'm totally confused by where you were trying to take this argument. When writing it, I never for one second thought of it as representing any ethnic undertone. It was merely a story about celebrities who find it difficult to cope with life in the spotlight and the two sides to this situation. I mentioned Lara, Trescothick and Tait too, each of them quite different from each other. I'm still struggling to get a sense of where you were going with your point but that could just be because I'm not understanding it totally. With respect and with friendly intent, please tell me.

Michael, before getting to my point I'd like to say a couple of things. You blog is actually one of my favorites, in fact I like all of the blogs on Difference Strokes. I believe you (and knew of course) that your article did not have any vicious undertone. So I apologize for creating the most outlandish association with your article and something thats been bothering me since "monkeygate".
My point was that the scrutiny that accompanied Harbhajan's slur (it is not for us to judge whether his intent was racial, particularly if we are hypocrites in this regard) MUST now be applied to all such references particularly with regard to Symonds; "Climbing poles/trees, hunting alone in the bush, savages" etc must now all face the same scrutiny irregardless of perceived intent. If you agree with mini_tugga's second para, you can't disagree with people who say calling someone a monkey because he looks like a monkey is the same. Its the price you pay for double standards (NOT YOU personally).

I have a lot of friends of African descent, some who take such references badly and others who can shrug or laugh it off. There are some that would make a scene and others who would let it simmer. After the Darwin episode several reports surfaced on how Symonds could not forgive CA for letting Harbhajan get away. My question, is Symonds using that incident as an excuse for his behavior? How about all the incidents prior to Monkeygate? If Symonds did use that incident as cover, he must come clean and let the world know how he feels about it and end it once and for all.
He cannot perpetuate this convenient issue whenever he feels like it, someone like me finds it particularly hypocritical and as a neutral I believe Harbhajan was targeted and played into the hands of the Aussie tactics and thats why it was important for India to back him as they did. The whole thing stinks but by bringing it up again Symonds is winning no more sympathizers, if he had any to begin with.

Michael Jeh, I think you underestimated the bad feeling that stil exists from 'monkey-gate' when you wrote this article. I am a Pakistan supporter and even I was appalled at the rubbish and hypocrisy that occurred during India's Tour of OZ, when Clarke bowled India out and Ponting and Co celebrated in a fashion that left much to be desired. I suppose winners always remember the good times, whilst losers always remember the bad, and when it comes to Australia, for good reason. I do agree with Praveen when he said that it appears Symonds has been thrown under the bus, after being used by Ponting and Cricket Australia for their own means and ends.

Its really tragic to see that such a treatment is being meted out to symmo just because he went out fishing instead of attending an "important" team meeting. We keep ranting about discipline in the game, are the various Cricket Boards disciplined? Is the ICC disciplined? We say that sportsperson should stay ina limit as the whole universe has got there eyes on them. I beg to differ, for us its sports and entertainment, for these players, its a career. Don't we take a day off on a day when an important project has to kick off at work just by citing a few bollocks to the boss? What is so wrong with that? Any which ways, i feel Monkeygate gave a raw deal to Symmo and i don't believe that Harbhajan did not utter the "monkey" word. Tendulkar, like a loyal servant, was simply saving the country from falling into the bracket of racists. If Symmo's career would be nailed due to the fishy story, that would really be a disgraceful act on behalf of CA. Punter must have his back. Cheerz.

I am disappointed that you didn't post my response to Ajax. I can empathise to a point. You don't want to encourage spats. However you can't be naive to that consequence when you chose to post his inflammatory remarks. That begged for a reply. My questions to Ajax were reasonable. They highlighted his hypocrisy.
Now I see that you've allowed him 2 more posts to justify his insulting remarks. This after an invitation from you which has allowed him to market his prejudice as something reasonable. All you've allowed him to do is explain away H. Singh's obviously racist comments while at the same time misappropriating innocent remarks abt his love of the bush to make his dodgy case.
If your intent is to avoid slanging matches then be fair and don't publish the provocations. Then you wont be confronted with the dilemma of censoring replies.
After all you were forced to ask Ajax where he was going with this. That was obvious from his 1st post and thats when you should've intervened.

Firstly mini_tugga, I apologize if I hurt your feelings by commenting on Symonds, perhaps you are his fan. I agree and am fully aware about the other so called icon players flopping big in IPL. My views were strictly from this blog's point of view about one player. How can you talk about Symonds in the same breath as Flintoff and Kallis? Their exploits speaks for themselves. In my opinion, Symonds is a bits and pieces player who has a whole load of umpiring luck on his side, umpires, including third umpires who inexplicably won't dare give him out even though he is, adding to that his own bad sportsman spirit not to walk when he knows he is out. Just remember the recent series against India and West Indies? Even he let his own mates down by his stupid "I am indispensible" behaviour.