Andrew Symonds' latest off-field trouble was not eased by a strong performance during his return from knee surgery on the Gold Coast on Saturday. Symonds made 7 for his club side before telling reporters he had nothing to say about his confused radio interview in which he called Brendon McCullum "a lump of s...".
Symonds' strange on-air reply came when he was discussing McCullum's signing for New South Wales in the final of the Twenty20 competition. He will have to wait until Tuesday or Wednesday to learn whether he will be punished by Cricket Australia for the incident, which comes after he was sent home from Darwin for going fishing and was involved in a pub altercation after his Test comeback in Brisbane.
While Cricket Australia has been relatively quiet on the issue, Justin Vaughan, New Zealand Cricket's chief executive, said Symonds' comments were unacceptable. "You can't talk about your fellow players like that," Vaughan said in the Herald on Sunday. "You can't condone those types of comments. We'd never expect one of our players to talk about anybody like that."
There was some good news for Symonds, who was able to get through the first day of his grade match. He will be considered for Queensland's Sheffield Shield contest against Western Australia at the Gabba on Friday as he attempts to make the South Africa tour.
Phil Jaques and Stuart Clark also appeared in their first matches since having operations. Clark (elbow) delivered three overs late in the day in Sydney University's game against Sutherland while Jaques (back) was lbw for 5 from the first ball of Greg Matthews, the former Test offspinner.