A free-spirited Oz all-rounder who was beyond stats
NEW DELHI: Australian cricket’s cup of grief is overflowing. The latest shocking news was former all-rounder Andrew Symonds’s death on Saturday night after the car he was driving crashed in Queensland. He was 46 and is survived by his wife and two young children.
Symonds played 26 Tests, 198 ODIs and 14 T20Is in an elevenyear career from 1998 to 2009. Born in Birmingham, he spurned the chance to play for England and picked Australia. His numbers could have been much more, but the free-spirited player was about impact, not longevity. And he often fell afoul of cricket officialdom, ending his Australia career early.
But the man nicknamed ‘Roy’ wasn’t just about numbers. He was an assurance like few others, as Ricky Ponting, who led him to two ODI World Cups in 2003 and 2007, and Adam Gilchrist, who featured in both those triumphs and many more, tweeted.
“If Roy shook your hand, you had his word, that’s the sort of bloke he was and that’s why I always wanted him on my team,” Ponting, coaching Delhi Capitals in IPL, tweeted in his tribute. Gilchrist wrote: “Think of your most loyal, fun, loving friend who would do anything for you. That’s Roy.”
Australian cricket has lost a third important member of its fraternity in the last couple of months. Wicket-keeping great Rod Marsh and spin legend Shane Warne died within hours of each other in March.
Symonds was a key member of Australia’s great sides, especially ODIs, in the 2000s. Symonds’s powerful batting in the middle-order, electric fielding and a bullet throwing arm, and brisk medium-pace and offspin all made him a great package. His frequent run-ins with cricket bosses meant a slow start to his Australia career. Until he announced himself on the biggest of stages—the 2003 World Cup in southern Africa where holders Australia, reeling from Warne’s doping suspension, were 86/4 against Pakistan at Johannesburg in their opening game. Symonds came in at No 6 and settled the game by smashing 143* off 123 balls. Australia finished on 310/8, and won by 82 runs. His 2007 World Cup began midway after a wrist injury, caused by putting too much into a shot. He finished on the triumphant side at Kensington, Barbados.
His defining Test innings was a racy 156 in the Boxing Day Ashes Test against England in 2006-07. He bettered that with a career-best 162 in Sydney against India in 2007-08, but the home team’s win came amid acrimony. Umpire Steve Bucknor turned down a caught behind appeal early in Symonds’s knock with Australia in trouble. Beyond umpiring controversies, the Test will forever be remembered for the charge brought against Harbhajan Singh that he racially abused Symonds by calling him a ‘monkey’.
Harbhajan was initially handed a ban by ICC match referee Mike Proctor. But amid Harbhajan’s denial, India’s threat to walk off the tour if the racism tag stayed, and skipper Anil Kumble announcing that only one team had played in the spirit of the game, the player was let off with a hefty fine for “using abusive language”.
The two players patched when IPL was launched, with Symonds bought by now defunct Deccan Chargers for $1.35 million. He played four seasons in the league, the final season, 2011, in Mumbai Indians.
Symonds’s Australia career rapidly declined. In 2005, he was suspended for turning up drunk ahead of the shock ODI loss to Bangladesh at Cardiff. He then chose to go fishing instead of attending a team meeting ahead of a home series against Bangladesh. He eventually left the team after a suspension for breaking team drinking rules ahead of the 2009 T20 World Cup. It painted a picture of someone tough to control, but left one wondering if he was fully understood and whether it had to do with the Australia team culture.