Hope floats for troubled Symonds after heroics against Pak

Andrew Symonds is relieved to have made it back to the thick of things in international cricket.

Andrew Symonds says he had all but given up hopes of reviving his sliding career before the match-winning knock against Pakistan brought back some of the lost confidence. Symonds struck a 62-ball 58 after picking up a couple of wickets in the second one-dayer against Pakistan to lead Australia to victory. The two sides are competing in a five-match ODI series to be followed a Twenty20 game in the UAE.

The burly Queenslander said the effort has re-instilled some of the confidence that had been shattered by a series of off-field misdemeanours and on-field failures.

“In the first game I got out and I thought ‘Gee,there’s one down,I’ve got possibly five to go.’ That’s how I was looking at it. I did feel like that,” Symonds was quoted as saying by a local news agency. “I’d been away for quite a while and that was probably the main thing that was going through my head the last little bit,whether I could find the way that I played successfully when I was in the side,” he added.

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Symonds said he felt relieved after his contribution won Australia the match. “It was a very important innings for me. I am glad that it happened now and not in two games’ time or the last game,because this has given me a bit of confidence going into the next few games that I play,” he said. “There’s a bit of relief there and believing that I can do what I used to do is a great thing to feel again,” he

added. Symonds said having to sit out of the team during his rehabillitation was one of the most frustrating periods of his life. “A piece of me was still there with them,” he said. “When you’d hear or saw that they lost,it hurts,I desperately wanted to be there and be helping.”