By IANS,
Melbourne : Andrew Symonds has apologised to his Australia teammates and fans for his behaviour that drove him out of the national team and vowed to return to international cricket a better person.
The champion all-rounder, dumped from the Australian team for going fishing instead of attending a compulsory team meeting in Darwin before the three-match series against Bangladesh earlier this month, said he realised he needed to be more committed for the team and his cricket career.
With speculation rife that the hot head all-rounder’s cricket career is over following his fishing misadventure, Symonds spoke out for the first time after being sent home from Darwin before the Bangladesh series. He was also dropped for the four-Test tour of India later this month.
“I’m going through the process of trying to improve and become not only a better cricketer but a better person,” Symonds was quoted as saying in the Australian media.
Symonds said he could not say just when he would play again but he has learnt from his mistakes.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge of taking up cricket again for my club, state and country, hopefully.”
But how soon that will be will depend on the allrounder’s progress after he returned to the Queensland Bulls’ training in Brisbane Tuesday.
Symonds will see sports psychologist Phil Jauncey this week to talk through some of his issues.
Symonds apologised to his family, his teammates and cricket fans for his behaviour in recent months that has led to criticism from teammates, including Michael Clarke and former champion spinner Shane Warne, who accused him of being disrespectful to his teammates.