Andrew Symonds

Andrew Symonds

Source: [1], April 10 2007

Andrew Symonds (born 9 June, 1975, Birmingham, England) is an Australian cricketer of West Indian heritage who moved to Australia with his parents, after they adopted him, when he was one year old.

Symonds is a talented, powerful, right-handed batsman. He can also bowl off spin or medium pace, making him a good all-rounder. He is an exceptional fielder, with a report prepared by Cricinfo in late 2005 showing that since the 1999 Cricket World Cup, he had effected the most number of run-outs in ODI cricket of any fieldsman, with the fourth highest success rate. He is very agile for his size and weight (medium-heavy build; 187cm tall), has excellent reflexes, is able to take catches well and has a powerful and accurate throwing arm. His nickname is Roy, shortened from the name Leroy, after a coach from early in his career believed he resembled local Brisbane NBL hero Leroy Loggins.

Since making his debut for the Queensland state team in the 1994-1995 season, Symonds has scored over 10,000 runs in first-class cricket.

He made his One-day International debut for Australia in 1998. He opted to represent Australia over both England (his country of birth) and West Indies (through his parents).

In March 2004, he made his long-awaited Test debut in Australia's tour of Sri Lanka after showing great form in ODI cricket in 2003. However, he encountered difficulty against Muttiah Muralitharan on the dusty, spinning Sri Lankan tracks, failing to pass 25 in any of his four innings, and was dropped after two Test matches. He was recalled in November 2005 following the injury to Shane Watson, as Australia's search for an all-rounder continued. After 5 Tests, with a batting average of 12.62 and a bowling average of 85.00, his position in the team was under a cloud until the 2005 Boxing Day Test. On the first day of the match, he was out caught behind for a golden duck. Then, with his batting average threatening to drop under 10 and bowling average pushing 100, Symonds took 3/50 in the South African first innings before blasting 72 off 54 balls in the second innings (including a new Australian record for the fastest Test fifty - 40 balls) and taking 2/6.

As an ODI player, he is known for scoring runs at an excellent strike rate of over 90, with a highest score of 156. He cemented his place in the team in Australia's opening match of the 2003 Cricket World Cup, where he scored 143* to guide Australia from 4/86 to 8/310. Symonds is sometimes branded as a One-day International 'specialist' as his ODI record with both ball and bat are far better than that of his Test match averages. Although he has had many highs, he also experienced a flourish of low scores in the summer of 2004. This included five consecutive ducks in domestic cricket, but a 328 for his local Brisbane district competition helped his push for inclusion in the Australian squad.

In English county cricket he initially played for Gloucestershire before later appearing for Kent. He hit a record 16 sixes in his unbeaten 254 against Glamorgan at the Pen-y-Pound ground in Abergavenny in 1995, beating the mark set by New Zealand's John Reid. Wisden reported that the 16th six "landed on a tennis court about 20 feet over the boundary", and added that "though he was undoubtedly helped by the short boundaries, it would have been a hugely effective innings on any ground in the world". Symonds added four more sixes in the second innings, to beat the old record of 17 in a match, set by Warwickshire's Jim Stewart against Lancashire at Blackpool in 1959. In July 2005 he signed for Lancashire for the rest of the season having finished duties as part of Australia's ODI squad.

At the 2006 Allan Border Medal count, Symonds would have won the One Day player of the year award, but ruled himself ineligible due to a late night of drinking which led to him turning up still inebriated to a match against Bangladesh, after which he was suspended.

Andrew Symonds won Player of the Series in the 05/06 Australian ODI VB series.

Whilst batting in the second Test in the Australian 2006 tour of South Africa, Andrew Symonds was struck in the face of his helmet by a bouncer off Makhaya Ntini. Symonds required four stitches on the inside of his upper lip.

Symonds has the fifth highest score in the history of the Twenty20 Cup hitting a 43-ball 112 for Kent Spitfires against Middlesex Crusaders on July 2nd, 2004. Although selected in Australia's 15-member World Cup squad he was unavailable for selection for the first few matches because he ruptured his bicep while batting against England on February 2 2007 in the Commonwealth Bank Tri Series. Surgery was performed and Symonds underwent extensive physical rehabilitation. As a result he missed the remainder of that tournament as well as the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy in New Zealand. Symonds remarkably made a relatively quick recovery after returning for Australia's win in their last preliminary World Cup match against South Africa. [2][3].

Symonds' other trademarks are his customary dreadlocks, and the white zinc cream used on his bottom and top lips, regardless of the weather conditions (even when playing indoors). He has stated that the reason is sponsorship from the zinc cream manufacturer.

Teams

International

• Australia (current)

Australian state

• Queensland Bulls (current)

English county

• Lancashire
• Gloucestershire
• Kent
• Surrey County Cricket Club

Career highlights

Tests

Test Debut: vs Sri Lanka, Galle, 2003-2004

• Symond's best Test bowling figures of 3 for 50 came against South Africa, Melbourne, 2005-2006
• His best Test score of 156 was against England, Melbourne, 2006-2007

One-day Internationals

ODI Debut: vs Pakistan, Lahore, 1998-1999

• Symonds' best ODI score of 156 was against New Zealand, at Westpac Stadium, Wellington, December 7 2005
• His best ODI bowling figures of 5 for 18 came against Bangladesh, Manchester, 2005

World Records

Symonds holds the world records for the most sixes hit during a first-class innings (16) and during a first-class match (20), both set while playing for Gloucestershire against Glamorgan as a 20 year old. His first innings score was 254 not out.

External links

• Cricinfo profile on Andrew Symonds