Contract offer to all-rounder Symonds withdrawn

Cricket Australia withdrew its one-year contract offer to troubled all-rounder Andrew Symonds on Friday but said it hoped the 34-year-old veteran would continue to play domestically for Queensland state.

Symonds, who was sent home from the Twenty20 World Cup last week following another alcohol-related indiscretion, was set to begin a new central contract on July 1. But he has been replaced by fast bowler Shaun Tait on Cricket Australia's 25-man list of contracted players.

Cricket Australia operations manager Michael Brown said Symonds would still be clear to play in Australia and that he was hopeful Symonds would play for Queensland, although likely only in the limited-overs and Twenty20 versions of the game. Symonds also has a million-dollar contract to play in the Indian Premier League Twenty20 competition.

"We've given him our full support if he so choose to play state cricket and hopefully he's not lost to the Australian game," Brown said. "He's a world-class player and if Andrew would like to play, Australian cricket would like to see him back playing for Queensland."

Symonds was sent home on June 4 from England, two days before Australia began its ill-fated Twenty20 World Cup campaign that ended in losses to West Indies and Sri Lanka, knocking the Australians out in the first round.

The Cricket Australia release Friday said Symonds' offer for 2009-2010 was "revoked after a breach of team rules."

"Cricket Australia has advised Andrew Symonds that his contract offer for the next contract year has been withdrawn," Brown said in the statement. "Selectors have convened and have added Shaun Tait to the contract list for the coming year."

Symonds helped Deccan Chargers win the second edition of the IPL last month in South Africa. With an IPL annual contract worth more than $1.3 million - paid on a prorata basis for matches played - he is one of the highest-paid players in the league.

Last September, Symonds was ordered to undergo counseling after being expelled from the squad for going fishing instead of attending a team meeting ahead of a limited-overs series against Bangladesh.

He briefly returned for a series against New Zealand before injury sidelined him for several months. Days after his November recall, he was involved in a bar fight with a drunken fan, although he was later cleared of wrongdoing.

Symonds then made disparaging comments about a New Zealand opponent during a radio interview, also while under the influence of alcohol.

Symonds was suspended for two matches in 2005, at the start of Australia's last Ashes tour of England, after arriving for a limited-overs international against Bangladesh hung over after a late night out.