Warne’s plans for Roy
THE death of Andrew Symonds has taken on an eerie twist with the revelation that he and the late Shane Warne had agreed to become coaching partners.
Symonds had told friends how much he was looking forward to heading to England this winter to be a part of Warne’s coaching staff at the London Spirit in the new Hundred competition.
It will be a hollow feeling at the London franchise now being headed up by fellow Australian Trevor Bayliss, with Symonds and Warne both gone in the space of two months.
The day after Warne’s death, Symonds opened up on Fox Cricket’s special to pay tribute to a close friend he revealed had helped him through some of the darkest moments of his life. That relationship was set to blossom into a coaching union that Warne hoped would kickstart a new career for Symonds.
“My friendship with Shane just grew and grew over the years and he was so generous to me,” Symonds told Fox. “I’ve been through some difficult periods and I’d ring him and if he didn’t take the call he’d ring me straight back.
“I’ve done quite a bit of (commentary) work with him over the last three years and just recently he rang me – probably 10 days (before Warne’s death) and I was at home and I was getting ready to go fishing actually. And he said, ‘I’ve got some good news for you, Roy. Remember how we talked about this coaching thing for the London Spirit? I’ve got you the job.’
“And I was really looking forward to going to coach with Shane Warne. No. 1 to see how he went about it and then obviously to learn.
“He said, ‘do you want to dip your toe into the water with coaching? You seem to really know the game quite well and you describe things to me quite well so would you like to give it a go?’ So off the back of that, that opportunity arose and unfortunately I won’t get to live that with him.”
Warne’s former Victorian teammate Darren Berry was to be the other assistant coach at London and was left devastated that his would-be colleagues – not to mention closest of mates in Warne – were no longer around.
“Too much just far too much to bare (sic),” Berry wrote on Twitter. “Seriously WTF we had some fierce battles on the field but enormous respect of (sic) it. Numbness descends as SKW had arranged both Roy & I to be his trusted assistants at the London Spirit.
“Unique man with a kind heart taken far too soon – RIP Roy.”
Fox Sports broadcast staff are in mourning at the shock and tragic death of Symonds, particularly when they’re still dealing with the loss of Warne.
Just hours after the news of Symond’s death broke, Warne’s daughter Brooke also posted on social media about her heartbreak.