Andrew Symonds

Calcutta: Andrew Symonds, the beleaguered Australian allrounder, has said the last four weeks have been the most stressful period of his career.

In his column for The Daily Telegraph, Australia, Symonds wrote that his head is still spinning from the impact of the racism controversy.

“Talk about hectic. The last four weeks have been the most full-on, stressful period of my career.

“From the initial racism row to the threats about the whole series being called off, my head hasn’t stopped spinning.”

The Australian allrounder wrote that it makes his blood boil when anyone questions the way he plays his cricket.

“Anyone who knows me understands that I’m a very straight up and down bloke, what you see is what you get, so to have people saying I’m not playing cricket in the right spirit really makes my blood boil.

“There have been meetings with lawyers and advisors, a day in the Adelaide courtroom, the charges downgraded by the court, fingers pointed and all of a sudden I’m somehow getting the blame.

“To have people questioning my integrity as a person and a cricketer is pretty ordinary.”

Symonds said he is thankful that his captain stood by him during the ordeal.

“It was good of Ricky Ponting to come out and stand up for my character.

“In times like these you find out who your friends are and there’s no doubt in my mind Punter’s (Ponting’s) rock solid.”

He said the controversy has taken a heavy toll on him.

“It’s been a rough ride and it’s taken a pretty big toll on me personally, but more importantly, on my family, my girlfriend and those close to me.

“I’m quite happy for the general public to make up their minds about what did or didn’t happen, but I can assure you I wouldn’t take a stand against something unless I really believed in it.

“In between, I’ve been trying to play Test match cricket in Adelaide, a Twenty20 game against India in front of 84,000 people in Melbourne and two of my best mates have suddenly retired.”