By IANS,
Sydney : Andrew Symonds timed his return to cricket to coincide with the departure of his former teammates on their tour of India, making a rare appearance for his club side Gold Coast Dolphins.
The quiet comeback of the Queenslander against a university side, which had former Test batsman Martin Love in their ranks, was watched by dad Ken and mum Barbara.
Playing for the first time since he was sent home from Darwin last month after the “gone fishing” fiasco, Symonds looked like he hadn’t missed a beat as he hit a composed 30 off 52 balls at a Brisbane suburban ground, reports the Daily Telegraph.
The dreadlocked all rounder, who last week insisted he would return to the Australian side a “better person”, smacked one giant trademark straight six before he was caught by Love at slip.
The 33-year-old showed further promising signs when he struck with his fifth delivery of medium pace snaring former Queensland batsman Steve Farrell.
Symonds, who is set to return to training for the Queensland Bulls Tuesday, finished with the figures of 2-25 (8.1 overs).
“It was not too bad really but I’m sure I’ll be sore tomorrow,” Symonds said after play.
“It was nice to get out there and have a hit and run around and catch up with a few of the boys. I am looking forward to get back into a bit of a routine at Bulls training this week.”
The next step in Symonds’ comeback could be next weekend when Queensland take on visiting Indian Premier League (IPL) team the Kolkata Knights Riders in several Twenty20 matches.
Without Symonds, and with Australia sending a pair of untried spinners in Bryce McGain and Jason Krejza, the world champions will enter the subcontinent as outsiders with the bookmakers.