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GUYANA CHRONICLE Friday February 14, 2014
CA let Andrew Symonds down over infamous Monkeygate affair - Ponting HE was the bustling all-rounder who had the world at his feet, but Andrew Symonds’ career was brought to a premature end after his trust was shattered by Cricket Australia (CA), according to former Test skipper Ricky Ponting. Symonds was never the same after the Monkeygate affair in 2008, when Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh was handed a three-Test ban for racial abuse before being cleared on appeal. The influence of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was on full display during the controversy, with Ponting and Symonds left disillusioned at the lack of support they received from CA S y m o n d s ’ Te s t c a r e e r petered out later that year, while his stint with Australia’s one-day and Twenty20 teams was over by May 2009 following a string of off-field incidents. Ponting believes the CA administration of the time bowed to the powerful BCCI over an issue it should have stood strongly against. “I knew how powerful Indian cricket was - everyone did,” Ponting told the Nine Network’s The Bottom Line in an interview to be aired at 16:00hrs on Saturday. “But at the same time, I know how powerful racism is in society as well. “And I know as an Australian cricket captain, or a
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member of society in Australia, I have to do whatever I can to make sure that doesn’t happen anywhere around me. “I was told every day, every week by Cricket Australia that we had to stamp it out of the game. “And (when) it did (happen), I had to make a stand against it. “I followed the instructions to the letter. I did everything I was expected to do. I know there are a lot of administrators in Cricket Australia who can’t say the same thing. “And that was the start of the end for Andrew Symonds “His career spiralled downhill after that because I know for a fact that he didn’t feel like he could trust the people he needed to trust.” Ponting also feels CA erred in appointing South African Mickey Arthur as coach in 2011. Arthur lasted just 19 months in the job before being replaced by Darren Lehmann, who led Australia to a 5-0 Ashes win this summer. “Mickey might be one of the great cricket coaches in the world, but he wasn’t the guy, the personality, the coach that Australian cricket needed at that time,” Ponting said. “We needed to bring the old, hard-nosed Aussie way back, and that certainly wasn’t the way Mickey was trying to coach our team.” (Herald Sun )
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