Andrew Symonds

Andrew Symonds

Personal information
Full name	Andrew Symonds
Nickname	Roy
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Batting	Right-hand
Bowling	Right-arm medium, Right-arm offbreak
Role	All-rounder
International information
National side	Australia
Test debut (cap 388)	8 March 2004 v Sri Lanka
Last Test	16 January 2008 v India
ODI debut (cap 139)	10 November 1998 v Pakistan
Last ODI	20 December 2007 v New Zealand
ODI shirt no.	63
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1994 -	Queensland
1995 - 1996	Gloucestershire
1999 - 2004	Kent
2005	Lancashire
Career statistics
Competition Tests ODIs FC List A Matches 18 180 210 397 Runs scored 1,001 4,671 13,733 10,417 Batting average 41.70 41.33 43.32 34.49 100s/50s 2/6 6/26 40/59 9/58 Top score 162* 156 254* 156 Balls bowled 1,518 5,690 16,571 11,207 Wickets 20 124 228 270 Bowling average 34.70 38.20 36.38 32.96 5 wickets in innings - 1 2 4 10 wickets in match - n/a - n/a Best bowling 3/50 5/18 6/105 6/14 Catches/stumpings 13/– 74/– 145/– 171/–
Source: cricinfo.com, 20 January 2007

Andrew Symonds (born 9 June 1975, Birmingham, England) is an Australian cricketer of West Indian and English heritage.

Early life

One of Symonds' biological parents was born in the West Indies. Symonds' adoptive parents Ken and Barbara moved to Australia shortly after his adoption, when he was aged three months. He has two non-adopted siblings. He spent the early part of his childhood in Charters Towers, northern Queensland, where his father Ken taught at the private fee paying All Souls St Gabriels School, which Andrew attended. He showed sporting prowess from a very early age. "Dad was cricket mad. He’d throw balls to me five or six days a week, before school, after school. And we’d play all sorts of games inside the house with ping-pong balls and Christmas decorations." Much of his junior cricket was played in Townsville for the Wanderers club, father and son making the 270-kilometre return trip sometimes twice a week. The family later moved to the Gold Coast, where his parents were on the staff of All Saints Anglican School in Merrimac. Symonds was a student at the school.

Overview of cricket career

Symonds is a right-handed aggressive batsman and 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 fifth equal most 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.

Domestic cricket

Australian State Cricket

Since making his debut for the Queensland state team in the 1994-1995 season Symonds has scored more than 5,000 runs and taken more than 100 wickets for his state. Symonds scored 113 and took four wickets in a losing cause in the Sheffield Shield final in 1999 and was named Man of the Match in the 2002 Pura Cup final after scoring 123 runs and taking six wickets.

English Counties

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 R. 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.

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.

One Day Internationals

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

Andrew Symonds batting against South Africa

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.

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

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 while Australia suffered their longest losing streak in over a decade. Symonds remarkably made a relatively quick recovery after returning for Australia's win in their last preliminary World Cup match against South Africa. [1] [2]. He bowled the final ball of the 2007 Cricket World Cup that was hosted in the West Indies.The final was contested between Australia and Sri Lanka and was shortened to 38/36 overs per side due to rain throughout the day. Even the final few overs of the Sri Lanka innings were played in almost darkness.

Test cricket

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.

Andrew Symonds on the way to his maiden Test hundred

Whilst batting in the second Test in the Australian 2006 tour of South Africa, 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. Struggling for reliable impact, Symonds was again dropped at the end of this series.

Following the retirement of Damien Martyn during the Ashes in 2006/07 Symonds was again recalled to the team. Scoring just 26 and 2 in his first Test back he found himself under pressure to justify his place in the team. In the Boxing Day Test Symonds faced his biggest challenge when arriving at the crease with Australia in deep trouble at 5/84. After a slow start to his innings he proceeded to score his first Test century, combining with his good friend Matthew Hayden to put on a 279 run partnership and bringing up the century with a six. Symonds was finally dismissed for 156.

During Sri Lanka's tour of Australia he had good form with the bat but had an ankle injury which ruled him out of the rest of the test series.

During the second test against India on January 2, 2008 Symonds completed his second test century, coming to the crease with Australia at 4-119. When Michael Clarke (1) and then Adam Gilchrist (7) were dismissed in quick succession Australia found themselves in poor shape at 6-134. Symonds and Brad Hogg put on a record 7th wicket partnership at the SCG (also a record for Australia vs. India) of 173 until Brad Hogg was dismissed for 79. Symonds was the beneficiary of some controversial decisions in the course of his innings. At stumps on the first day, Symonds was not out on 137, and Australia 7-376. By the end of the innings, Symonds finished on 162 not out, when the Australians were finally bowled out for 463.

Racial taunts

It was reported that Symonds was racially abused at Vadodara, Nagpur and Mumbai during Australia's tour of India in September and October 2007.

In 2008, Indian spin bowler Harbhajan Singh received a controversial three-match ban after a complaint that he had racially abused Symonds during the third day of the SCG Test. It was alleged that Harbhajan called Symonds a "monkey" after Symonds confronted him over touching fellow Australian player Brett Lee. The case was decided by the match referee, Mike Procter, in a hearing held after the match. The BCCI has lodged an appeal against the decision and the appeal is currently scheduled to be heard on 29th and 30th of January, after the fourth Test in Adelaide.

Teams

International

• Australia (current)

Australian state

• Queensland Bulls (current)

English county

• Lancashire
• Gloucestershire
• Kent
• Surrey

Career highlights

Tests

Test debut: Sri Lanka Galle, 2003-2004

• Best Test bowling figures: 3-50 (South Africa, Melbourne, 2005-06).
• Best Test batting score: 162* (India, Sydney, January 3, 2008).

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
• Andrew Symonds official website