Symonds stripped of Oz playing contract for next season

Australia’s national selectors announced on Friday they were offering the contract intended for Symonds to fast bowler Shaun Tait,who was considered unlucky to miss out on the original roster.

“With Cricket Australia now withdrawing its previous contract offer to Andrew Symonds,Shaun Tait has moved into a position where he has been offered a CA contract offer for 2009-10 under the rankings system CA uses to offer contracts to players,” Australia’s chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch said in a statement.

“Shaun at his best is an important part of our one-day international and Twenty20 make-up and I’m sure he will now seize the opportunity presented to him with this offer of a further Australian contract.”

Local media have speculated that Symonds would soon announce his retirement from international cricket and quit Australia to focus on the lucrative Indian Premier League after he was sent home in disgrace for an alcohol-related incident in London.

Symonds has not yet made any decisions about his future but told reporters on his arrival home that he would make an announcement soon.

The 33-year-old has been dogged by off-field problems during his international career and only recently rejoined the team after undergoing counseling for alcohol problems.

Symonds revealed last year that he had started drinking heavily to cope with the pressure of constantly being in the spotlight as a professional sportsman.

Australia officials said the latest incident was relatively minor but they had no alternative other than to send him home because of his long record of ill-discipline.

Symonds playing only for money: Slater

Former Australia opener Michael Slater feels money has got to troubled all-rounder Andrew Symonds who has lost the desire to play for the national team.

Symonds was sent home from the Twenty20 World Cup in England after an alcohol-related problem and Slater thinks the all-rounder would never play for Australia again but would rather concentrate earning money.

Symonds has a year to run on his USD 2 million contract in the Indian Premier League and Slater feels he would now be exploring other options.

“He earns big bucks in the IPL and now he’ll look at where the money is on offer elsewhere. Certainly playing for his country is way down the priority list,” Slater said.

The former Ashes hero also blamed Cricket Australia for rushing Symonds back to the national team after he was overlooked for a while due to a series of incidents both on and off the field.

“There is no doubt in my mind he was rushed back into the national side way too soon and frankly he seems to be interested only in the money and not representing Australia,” Slater was quoted as saying by the ‘The Daily Telegraph’.

Slater also believes the Symonds saga in England put the Australian team under a lot of pressure.

“It was a massive distraction in particular for Ricky (Ponting) and Michael (Clarke) to be put in that position before the start of the tournament,” said Slater,who ruled out Symonds returning to the national side but hoped he could get his life back on track.