Ex-Australia all-rounder Andrew Symonds announces retirement

The former Australia all-rounder Andrew Symonds has retired from all cricket with immediate effect. Symonds, 36, last played for Australia in 2009 when he was sent home from the World Twenty20 in England for breaking team drinking rules. It was one of several incidents to have blighted the career of one of the sport's most versatile and charismatic players. Since then he has severed ties with his domestic side Queensland and played mainly as a Twenty20 specialist with Surrey and Mumbai Indians. He was snapped up for $850,000 (£600,000) at the IPL auction in 2011, but he had an indifferent time, failing to make a half-century in either the IPL or the Champions League T20 in 2011, and struggled to hold down a permanent spot in the lineup. "Effective immediately, I am retiring from all forms of professional cricket," Symonds said. "It is with regret that I will not be able to fulfil my final year of the IPL with the Mumbai Indians. Mumbai Indians and the IPL have both been very supportive of me, but the impending arrival of my first child is a priority." Symonds, who was born in Birmingham but spent his early life in Australia, rose to prominence as a young player with Gloucestershire, hitting a record 16 sixes in an unbeaten 254 against Glamorgan in 1995. In the same year he turned down an approach from England to pledge his international future to Australia. He went on to play 26 Tests, 198 one-day internationals and 14 Twenty20 Internationals, often excelling as a middle-order batsman, off-spin or medium bowler and a hugely versatile and athletic fieldsman.