Andrew Symonds' tenure as Australian cricket's troubled genius is almost certainly over.
The talented allrounder, a renowned match winner, returned to Brisbane early Saturday after being sent home from the Twenty20 World Cup in England for yet another alcohol-related incident.
His dismissal divided opinion among former players in a country where cricket folklore is littered with drinking tales - even if it's greatest cricketer, Sir Donald Bradman, was teetotal.
Cricket Australia declined to say exactly what Symonds did. Domestic media reported he had gone out, without telling team management, to celebrate Queensland's win in the rugby league State-of-Origin series opener on Wednesday.
He declined to take questions from awaiting media, but gave a brief statement.
"I've got a fair bit to consider I suppose," Symonds said.
"I appreciate you all coming out here this morning and I will come out and make a full proper (statement) when I've gathered my thoughts and sat down with friends."
Dean Jones, who played 52 tests between 1984 and 1992 and was an innovator in limited-overs cricket, thinks Symonds was unfairly treated, given the latitude that was given to star players in the past.
"He just had a beer and supported Queensland's big win over New South Wales. It's a culture in the team that's always been there," Jones was quoted saying.
"Can you imagine that in the old days with Dennis Lillee or Jeff Thomson having to tell the manager where they were going?"
The touring leadership group, including skipper Ricky Ponting, vice-captain Michael Clarke and coaching staff, met in London and recommended to Cricket Australia that Symonds be sent home.
Former Australia wicketkeeper Ian Healy said the fact his peers made the decision could be difficult for Symonds to accept.
"A punishment dished out by your teammates and peers is a lot more damaging personally than a Cricket Australia sanction," he said.
"So this is bad in that he has let the national team down and teammates who were gearing up for a World Cup." Geoff Lawson, the former Australian test paceman who recently coached Pakistan, thought selectors had recalled Symonds too quickly after a string of off-field indiscretions.
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 in September.
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.
And this wasn't the first time he'd been in trouble in England.
Symonds was suspended for two matches in 2005, at the start of Australia's last Ashes tour there, after arriving for a limited-overs international against Bangladesh hung over after a late night out.
"The concern we had is that it comes out of a long series of indiscretions and it was in breach of some very specific commitments he made before we approved that he undertake this tour to England," Cricket Australia public affairs manager Peter Young said Friday.
Ponting, who had supported Symonds through prior controversies, hinted that the allrounder had blown his last chance.
"I don't think Cricket Australia could have done any more for him, to tell you the truth," Ponting said. "He's been stood down on a number of occasions. Unfortunately, for him and for us, he's come back in and this has happened again." The Cricket Australia board will review the central contract Symonds had been offered for 2009-10.
Most commentators expected the contract to be revoked, but thought Symonds, who turns 34 next Tuesday, would keep playing in the Indian Premier League Twenty20 competition. He helped Deccan Chargers win the second edition of the IPL last month.
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.
Symonds could also pick up a county cricket contract in England, but is no guarantee of keeping his contract with Queensland.
"The major concern is for Andrew Symonds the person rather than Andrew Symonds the cricketer," Queensland Cricket chairman Graham Dixon told the Australian Associated Press on Friday. "Until we sit down and talk to him and the consultants about where he is at - his state of mind and health - it's a bit premature to say whether he should or should not continue on.
"Whether in fact he has got the desire ... is probably more to the point." Healy, who played with Symonds at Queensland in the 1990s, said the latest episode could unburden the big allrounder.
"He has always loved a drink and it may have turned into a problem," Healy told Sydney radio 2KY. "The other thing is he might just be sick," of cricket.
"I'm not sure whether Symmo wants to play cricket or be bound by contracts or be bound by the Cricket Australia structure.
"I sense that he might be seeking the freedom that IPL and maybe a county stint might offer him."
