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Sunday, May 15, 2022

the big, burly - Andrew Symonds dies in a car accident !!

 In 1999,  Matthew Hayden and fellow Test cricketer _________  and another friend endured another water-based ordeal in Moreton Bay when their fishing boat sunk, with the three battling currents and fatigue to swim more than a kilometre back to shore.   .. .. today at 46, he has died young in a road accident.  Born in Birmingham, he could have played for England but turned down a call-up to the England A team in 1995. His first Australia selection, to the ODI side, came in 1998 but for a long time it appeared he would not make the most of his huge talent. 

With dreadlocks and his face daubed with zinc cream, he always cut a flamboyant figure in the Australian team.  Andrew Symonds, the former Australian allrounder who played in 26 Tests and 198 ODIs in an international career spanning from 1998 through 2009, has died in a car accident in Queensland. Symonds was 46 and was involved in an accident outside Townsville where he lived in retirement. In a statement, Queensland police said: "Police are investigating a single-vehicle crash in Hervey Range, around 50 kilometres from Townsville that's taken the life of a 46-year-old man last night. "Early information indicates, shortly after 11pm the car was being driven on Hervey Range Road, near Alice River Bridge when it left the roadway and rolled. "Emergency services attempted to revive the 46-year-old driver and sole occupant, however, he died of his injuries."

 


He featured in 198 ODIs – scoring six centuries and 30 half-centuries – while also contributing 133 wickets with his more than handy off-spin and medium pace – and was a livewire, a character on field. It was at the 2003 World Cup,  Symonds burst on to the stage with perhaps his greatest innings as he torched Pakistan with an unbeaten 143 in Johannesburg early in the tournament and helped Australia remain unbeaten and defeat India in a one-sided final. The swashbuckling right-hander was also part of the victorious World Cup side at the 2007 World Cup in West Indies as Australia claimed their fourth 50-over World Cup title. 

Alan Border said Symonds “hit the ball a long way and just wanted to entertain”. “He was, in a way, a little bit of an old-fashioned cricketer,” Border told the Nine Network. “He was an adventurer, loved his fishing, he loved hiking, camping. People liked his very laid-back style.” 

In 2008, he missed Australia’s one-day series against Bangladesh after going fishing when he was required to attend a team meeting. He also was disciplined prior to the 2009 Twenty20 World Cup for breaching team rules around alcohol.

He scored a career-best 162 against India at Sydney in 2008 in a match that would also become one of his most controversial moments of his career when he was involved in the lengthy race row with Harbhajan Singh.  In that Second test at Sydney between India and Australia in Jan 2008 there was ugly spar between Symonds and Harbhajan  that went for  adjudication in Court on breach of ICC code of conduct before the  Appeals Commissioner The Hon. Justice John Hansen (of New zealand). 

When they flourished, Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke formed a formidable pair for the Australian cricket team.  Together they won many series as Clarke went on to become the Australia captain. At the same time, Symonds was at the sunset of his career and somehow his equation with Clarke took the wrong turn. It reached a point when then interim captain Clarke sent Symonds back from a one-day series for skipping a team meeting and instead going to fishing.   Later in a podcast,  Symonds said that their friendship went sour after he got a good salary in the Indian Premier League. In the inaugural 2008 IPL, Symonds became the costliest overseas player as he was picked by Deccan Chargers for a sum of INR 5.4 crore.  

He played for Deccan Chargers and later for Mumbai Indians in IPL.  Statistically he scored 1462 runs in 26 tests; 5088 in 198 ODI & 337 in 14 T20I – he also took 24 test wickets, 133 in ODI and 8 in T20. 

Sad such a character is lost young ! in a gory accident
 
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
15.5.2022

 

 

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