Regardless of what type of side he "wanted" to get into, the whole idea that he's English because he was born here is rather misplaced, I have to feel. I know some one who has born in Sharjah (United Arab Emirates), was educated and raised there until a while, before he and his family took on a globetrotting journey which saw them live in places as diverse as Pakistan, Bahrain, Nigeria, USA and the UK, and now he him self is working in Tanzania, with a possible move to the US on the cards. Of all the places he's lived in, he's spend the least amount of time in Pakistan, yet he can relate to Pakistan most of any of the countries he's lived in, and happily calls him self Pakistani!

Another example, and a very ironic one in that is that of Nasser Hussain, possibly the most biased English commentator in the Sky team, was not born in England. I'm not sure if it was Chennai or Bombay he was born in, but he was definitely born in India.

So being called a folk of any place is not determined by being born there, or even having been raised there, its irrespective of these things and depends rather on HOW you've been raised. Hence to be critical of Symonds because of his decision not to play for England, and to cast him as a traitor, is unfair and unjustified.