Andrew Symond’s outburst perfect motivation for McCullum

Sydney, Feb 1 : Former New Zealand all-rounder Craig McMillan has warned that Andrew Symonds had provided Brendon McCullum with the perfect motivation to take the game to Australia in the Chappell-Hadlee series starting in Perth today.

And South African coach Mickey Arthur added it was up to the likes of McCullum to help drive the stake further into Cricket Australia's heart by taking the fight to the hosts, who lost their world No. 1 one-day ranking to the Proteas.

Symonds was fined 4000 dollars by Cricket Australia for describing the Kiwi batsman-keeper as a "lump of s-t" during a radio interview in the lead-up to last weekend's domestic Twenty20 final between eventual champions NSW and Victoria, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Symonds was furious to think a local player would miss the game at the expense of McCullum, who had no affiliation with the team.

Symonds expressed remorse during the week; however, McMillan still thought it would aid the tourists.

"Symonds' description of Brendon McCullum as a lump of you-know-what was not the smartest bit of diplomacy I''ve heard recently, especially considering his recent troubles with Cricket Australia," McMillan wrote in Auckland for his Sunday News column.

"The whole saga has been a bit sad really, because Symonds's fall from grace off the field has been mirrored by injury and lack of form on it. In my playing days, Symonds was not one of the favourites in the Black Caps changing room and this outburst would have done little to change that," he wrote.

McCullum accepted Symonds's apology, but McMillan hoped the radio comment would jolt him back to his best form after two unimpressive one-day series against Bangladesh and the West Indies.

Meanwhile, South African coach Arthur declared that he was confident the Black Caps could down Ricky Ponting's team. (ANI)

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