Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has said that the career of his ex-teammate and former all-rounder Andrew Symonds was ended prematurely following the infamous Monkeygate affair in 2008, which led to Symonds' trust being broken by Cricket Australia (CA).
Symonds was never the same after the Monkeygate affair, when Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh was handed a three-Test ban for racial abuse before being cleared on appeal, showing the marked influence of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) during the controversy.
According to News.com.au, in contrast, Ponting and Symonds were left disillusioned at the lack of support they received from CA, following which Symonds' Test career disintegrated while his stint with Australia's one-day and Twenty20 teams ended by May 2009 following a string of off-field incidents.
Ponting said that he believes the CA administration of the time should have stood strongly against the powerful BCCI instead of bowing down to their dictates, saying that it is ironic that he was told daily by CA to make a stand against racism and yet at the end, he had to stand along in the issue, which heralded the start of the end for Symonds.
Ponting also said that Symonds' career spiralled downhill after the controversy as he did not feel that he could trust the people and the management upon whom he had given so much trust.
Ponting also feels that CA made a mistake in appointing South African Mickey Arthur, who lasted just 19 months before being replaced by Darren Lehmann, as coach in 2011, saying that Arthur was not the person that Australian cricket needed at that time.
