Laid-back character a huge loss, says tearful wife
ANDREW Symonds’s wife Laura has paid a touching tribute to her late husband and revealed her family’s devastation at his sudden death.
“We are still in shock – I’m just thinking of the two kids,’’ a tearful Laura told News Corp on Sunday morning.
“He was such a big person and there is just so much of him in his kids.’’
Laura and children Chloe and Billy flew from Sydney to Townsville on Sunday morning after being told of Andrew’s death in a car accident.
Symonds retired to Townsville soon after his playing days finished and relished the northern lifestyle with regular fishing trips where he would chase barramundi and set crab pots.
“He was the most laid-back person. Nothing stressed him out,” Laura said.
“He was an extremely chilled operator.
“So practical.
“He was never good with his phone but he always had time for everyone.’’
Among Symonds’s closest friends were cricket mates Jimmy Maher, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden who loved his loyalty and uniqueness as a character.
Symonds used to occasionally poke fun at himself in all manners of life, once telling News Corp “my kids are pretty much idiot proof, even when I look after them’’ but beneath the selfdeprecating ways lay a sharp mind.
“He always felt extremely self-conscious about his intellect and would say ‘I didn’t go to uni and don’t have
HE WAS THE MOST LAID BACK PERSON. NOTHING STRESSED HIM OUT. HE WAS AN EXTREMELY CHILLED OPERATOR. SO PRACTICAL
LAURA SYMONDS
degrees’ but he was so practical and really intelligent in his own way,’’ Laura said.
“He was a great commentator.
“He didn’t show it on the screen but he was really nervous sometimes.
“He could read plays and read players and then articulate it in layman’s terms.
“I am not a cricket nuffy but I could understand the game when he explained it to me.
“He brought humour to it and it was not serious.’’ Fox Sports executive director Steve Crawley described Symonds as “one of a kind”.
“We awake to this shocking news and our deepest sympathies are with his wife Laura, children Chloe, Billy and all of his work mates and dear friends throughout Fox Sports and the cricket fraternity.”