60 Facts About Andrew Symonds

Andrew Symonds was an Australian international cricketer, who played all three formats as a batting all-rounder.

Andrew Symonds played as a right-handed, middle order batsman and alternated between medium pace and off-spin bowling.

Andrew Symonds eventually retired from all forms of cricket in February 2012, to concentrate on his family life.

Andrew Symonds was adopted by parents Ken and Barbara at three months of age and they moved to Australia when he was a toddler.

Andrew Symonds's sister, Louise Symonds, who was adopted, was a contestant on the Australian Gladiators television series in 2008.

Andrew Symonds spent the early part of his childhood in Charters Towers, northern Queensland, where his father taught at the private fee paying All Souls St Gabriels School, which Symonds attended.

Andrew Symonds showed sporting prowess from a very early age.

In 1988, Andrew Symonds' father accepted a deputy headmaster role at All Saints Anglican School and the family subsequently relocated to the Gold Coast when Andrew Symonds was 12 years of age.

Andrew Symonds attended the school and continued his junior cricket at Palm Beach Currumbin.

Andrew Symonds was an aggressive right-handed batsman who could bowl off spin or medium pace, making him a good all-rounder.

Andrew Symonds was very agile for his size and weight, had excellent reflexes, was able to take catches well and had a powerful and accurate throwing arm.

Andrew Symonds's nickname was Roy, shortened from the name Leroy, after a coach from early in his career believed he resembled local Brisbane basketball player Leroy Loggins.

Andrew Symonds was an AIS Australian Cricket Academy scholarship holder in 1994.

In 1995, after playing in his first season for English county Gloucestershire, Andrew Symonds won the Cricket Writer's Club Young Cricketer of the Year award.

Shortly afterwards Andrew Symonds was selected as part of the England A team that was to tour Pakistan in the winter; however, he decided not to go, instead choosing to pursue an international career for Australia.

Andrew Symonds scored more than 5,000 runs and took more than 100 wickets for the Queensland state team.

Andrew 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.

Andrew Symonds joined the club as an overseas player for the first time ahead of the 1999 County Championship and was brought in as an injury replacement for Daryll Cullinan during the 2001 County Championship.

Andrew Symonds eventually made his mark in T20 cricket which was in its early days during his stint with Kent.

Andrew Symonds featured for Kent in the inaugural edition of the 2003 Twenty20 Cup and played an influential knock of an unbeaten 96 runs off just 37 balls with a strike rate of 259.45 against Hampshire in a group stage match.

Andrew Symonds's knock which came at a strike rate of over 250 was a surprise given that T20 cricket was in its very early days.

Andrew Symonds's knock sealed the deal for Kent as the modest target of 146 was reached within just 12 overs.

Andrew Symonds scored 112 in 37 minutes and his century, which came at 34 balls, was the then world record for the fastest ever century in T20 cricket.

Andrew Symonds's record stood for nine years before being surpassed by Chris Gayle, during the 2013 Indian Premier League, who did it in 30 balls.

Andrew Symonds' knock comprised a flurry of boundaries including 18 fours and three sixes which came at a strike rate of 260.46 and his knock helped Kent to win the rain affected match convincingly by seven wickets with 29 balls to spare.

Andrew Symonds appeared in 49 first-class matches for Kent, scoring 3,526 runs for the club at an average of 45.20, including 12 centuries, and taking 65 wickets.

Andrew Symonds played in 62 List A matches for Kent, scoring 1,690 runs at an average of 30.17, and took 69 wickets at an average of 21.53.

In February 2008, Andrew Symonds was signed by the Indian Premier League franchise Deccan Chargers for US$1,350,000, which made him the second most expensive player in the league at that time.

The Royals ended up winning the game, with Andrew Symonds conceding 19 runs from the final over, with 17 required to win.

Andrew Symonds started the third season convincingly, scoring two 50s in his first three games with the side in 2010.

However, at the start of his international career, Andrew Symonds struggled to make an impact with the bat and ball, although his fielding was of high quality, and was not a regular member of the playing XI.

Andrew Symonds was named in Australia's 2003 Cricket World Cup squad.

Andrew Symonds batted in five innings during the victorious 2003 World Cup campaign where he made 326 runs at an average of 163.

Andrew Symonds was the third leading runscorer for Australia during the World Cup campaign just behind Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden.

Andrew Symonds remained unbeaten in three of the five innings and his only failure with the bat in the tournament was against England where he was dismissed for a duck.

In March 2004, Andrew Symonds made his Test debut in Australia's tour of Sri Lanka, with the selectors citing his bowling and his power hitting against spin bowlers as "ideal" for the subcontinent conditions.

Andrew Symonds replaced Simon Katich, who had scored a century and unbeaten fifty in Australia's previous Test.

Andrew Symonds was recalled in November 2005 for South Africa's tour of Australia, following an injury to Shane Watson, as Australia's search for an all-rounder continued.

At the 2006 Allan Border Medal count, Andrew Symonds would have won the One Day Player of the Year award as he polled the most votes, but was ineligible due to a drinking binge during the 2005 Ashes tour.

Andrew Symonds was named Player of the Match twice in the group stage: once as he hit a half-century in the opening game, and then again after scoring 32 and taking three wickets, both in victories over Sri Lanka.

Andrew Symonds scored a second half-century, reaching 65 in a win over South Africa.

Andrew Symonds required four stitches on the inside of his upper lip.

Andrew Symonds remarkably made a relatively quick recovery after returning for Australia's win in their last preliminary World Cup match against South Africa.

Andrew Symonds further went on to score 62 not out in the second innings.

Daniel Brettig notes how, "duly disillusioned", Andrew Symonds "drifted from the game via a series of disciplinary problems".

Andrew Symonds was set to play for Australia in the August 2008 series against Bangladesh in Darwin, but was sent home to Queensland after missing a team meeting while out fishing.

Andrew Symonds did not play any significant role in the first Test, which Australia won.

Andrew Symonds was cleared by Cricket Australia to play in the second test.

Andrew Symonds then played in the first two tests of the next series against South Africa but performed poorly and was omitted from the team for the third test due to injury; at the same time, many critics called for his omission on performance grounds.

Andrew Symonds was finally recalled in April to play ODIs against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates, but was not selected for the 2009 Ashes series, with young all-rounders Shane Watson, Andrew McDonald and Marcus North being preferred.

In early June 2009, Andrew Symonds was sent home from the ICC World Twenty20 tournament in England following "an alcohol-related incident".

In June 2009, Andrew Symonds told Channel Nine's Sixty Minutes that he was not an alcoholic but a binge-drinker.

Andrew Symonds previously held the world records for the most sixes hit during a first-class innings and during a first-class match, both set while playing for Gloucestershire against Glamorgan as a 20-year-old.

At the time of his death, Andrew Symonds was one of only 22 players to have scored over 5,000 runs and taken more than 100 wickets in ODI cricket and one of only three Australians to have done so.

Andrew Symonds was named as an all rounder in Australia's "greatest ever ODI team".

Andrew Symonds was a keen supporter of the Brisbane Broncos since childhood and was considering a switch to rugby league in 2002 when his cricket career was faltering.

Andrew Symonds made a cameo in the 2011 Bollywood movie Patiala House.

Andrew Symonds was killed in a single-vehicle road accident at Hervey Range, north of Townsville, Queensland, on 14 May 2022, at the age of 46.

Queensland Police said in a statement that Andrew Symonds was driving on Hervey Range Road near the Alice River Bridge when his car left the road and rolled at around 10:30 pm local time.

Paramedics responded and attempted to revive him, but Andrew Symonds was pronounced dead at the scene.