It is good for Andrew Symonds that he missed the disastrous Australian tour to India. Even if he had come, it is unlikely he would have made a difference, when some one as consistent and sober as Michael Hussey could not.

Symonds has confessed that after ‘Monkeygate’, in which he clashed with Indian off-spinner, Harbhajan Singh, life has not been the same for him, especially as he did not have the support of Cricket Australia. What did he want? Harbhjan to be banned for life, which he should have been anyway, after he slapped his team-mate, Sreesanth. But the Indian cricket board did not have the courage to do so.

It is touching to read that Symonds has made up with the Australian vice-captain Michael Clarke after the latter was instrumental in Symonds missing the Indian tour. It is known that the two have been close friends, but Clarke showed character when he recommended disciplinary action. It is a lesson for Symonds, who would know there is a limit to what friendship can do.

It is rather naïve, however, for Symonds to confess that he hit the bottle hard, because he is capable of turning maudlin and indulging in the worst of all exercises – self-pity. There is reason to believe Symonds suffers from a persecution complex because of the race factor, which, in a so-called egalitarian society like Australia, is surprising.  

Fast-medium bowler Stuart Clark has no such hang-ups, though in India he would be regarded as an Anglo-Indian. He hails from Kolar, near Bangalore, and spent his early years in Chennai. The problem with Symonds is, he is all bluster. Maybe he should take a leaf out of the book of the great Viv Richards, who always proclaimed the superiority of the black race.

Symonds is fairer than Richards is!