Symonds dies in auto accident
MELBOURNE, May 15, (AP): Former Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds, who has died after a single-vehicle auto accident, was a big-hitting allrounder who built a credible test career and was an exemplar of Australian sport’s prized larrikin tradition.
He was 46.
“Australian cricket has lost another of its very best. Andrew was a generational talent who was instrumental in Australia’s success at World Cups and as part of Queensland’s rich cricket history,” Cricket Australia chairman Lachlan Henderson said in a statement Sunday. “He was a cult figure to many (and) was treasured by his fans and friends.”
Cricket Australia reported details of Symonds’ death on its website, citing a police statement with details of the accident late Saturday night near the northeastern city of Townsville, Queensland state.
It described Symonds as “a cult hero” and a “larger-than-life figure who drew a widespread fan base during his peak years for not only his hard-hitting ways but his larrikin persona.”
Symonds’ wife, Laura, told the Courier-Mail newspaper that the family was in shock.
“He was such a big person and there is just so much of him in his kids,” she said.
Tall, broad-shouldered and dreadlocked, his face daubed in zinc cream, Symonds had an imposing physical presence. He was born in Birmingham, England to a father believed to be of Afro-Caribbean heritage. His adoptive parents moved to Australia when he was an infant.