Andrew Symonds

Andrew Symonds

Australia

Full name Andrew Symonds
Born June 9, 1975, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England
Current age 31 years 265 days
Major teams Australia, Gloucestershire, Kent, Lancashire, Queensland
Nickname Roy
Playing role All-rounder
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium, Right-arm offbreak
Height 1.87 m

Statsguru

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	13	19	0	518	156	27.26	850	60.94	1	2	50	14	13	0
ODIs	161	128	24	4037	156	38.81	4386	92.04	5	21	359	80	69	0
Twenty20 Int.	4	4	2	125	54*	62.50	63	198.41	0	1	13	5	1	0
First-class	203	336	28	13124	254*	42.61			39	54			145	0
List A	377	334	42	9783	156	33.50			8	53			166	0
Twenty20	17	17	5	568	112	47.33	282	201.41	1	4			9	0

Bowling averages

	Mat	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4	5	10
Tests	13	1080	488	11	3/50	5/56	44.36	2.71	98.18	0	0	0
ODIs	161	5454	4524	121	5/18	5/18	37.38	4.97	45.07	2	1	0
Twenty20 Int.	4	84	97	7	2/14	2/14	13.85	6.92	12.00	0	0	0
First-class	203	15869	7900	218	6/105		36.23	2.98	72.79		2	0
List A	377	10923	8647	267	6/14	6/14	32.38	4.74	40.91	2	4	0
Twenty20	17	326	393	16	2/14	2/14	24.56	7.23	20.37	0	0	0

Career statistics
Test debut	Sri Lanka v Australia at Galle - Mar 8-12, 2004
Last Test	Australia v England at Sydney - Jan 2-5, 2007
ODI debut	Pakistan v Australia at Lahore - Nov 10, 1998
Last ODI	Australia v England at Sydney - Feb 2, 2007
Twenty20 Int. debut	New Zealand v Australia at Auckland - Feb 17, 2005
Last Twenty20 Int.	Australia v England at Sydney - Jan 9, 2007
First-class span	1994/95 - 2006/07
List A span	1993/94 - 2006/07
Twenty20 span	2003 - 2006/07

Notes

One-Day International Player of the Year - 2005

Profile

Andrew Symonds brings gusto to whatever he does, whether firing down offbreaks or mediums, hurling his ungainly bulk round the field or vigorously ruffling the bowler's hair at the celebration of a wicket. He saves his loudest grunt for his batting, where he is that rarest of modern-day creatures - an unabashed six-hitter in the mould of a George Bonnor or a Colin Milburn or a David Hookes. Batting for Gloucestershire at 20, he scythed 16 sixes in the first dig [a world record] against Glamorgan at Abergavenny, 20 for the match [another first], and then announced he couldn't care less about the milestone; he wanted only to help his team. He has been matter-of-factly demolishing attacks ever since. His flaw has been to attempt one six too many - invariably off the wrong ball.

"I used to hate watching him bat," his old coach Toot Byron once lamented. "He wasn't in control of his shot-selection ... he'd get 24 off an over and then go out on the last ball of that over." Legend has it that Symonds, a dreadlocked Queensland larrikin, once turned up barefoot and wearing a cowboy hat for a contract meeting with Cricket Australia's then-chief executive Malcolm Speed. He also graciously ruled himself ineligible for any award at the 2006 Allan Border Medal - he would have been the One-Day Player of the Year - after being suspended for turning up drunk before Australia's embarrassing loss to Bangladesh on the Ashes tour.

During almost five years in and out of the one-day side he frittered away golden opportunities galore. One day changed everything. Striding out with his team in turmoil against Pakistan in the 2003 World Cup, a game and tournament he never expected to play in, Symonds sculpted a masterly 143 not out in 125 balls. Until that day, he had mustered just 762 one-day runs at only 23; ever since he has averaged more than 45 and become a hero to the masses. "In the past," he admits, "I was a man without a map when I went out to bat." Now he understands his one-day role perfectly - he could claim to be the side's most valuable player after pounding three hundreds and taking 21 wickets in 2005-06. His impact to the limited-overs outfit was shown this summer after he ripped the tendon from his arm playing a fierce drive and the team struggled to its worst losing streak in a decade. Symonds is not the only one hoping he'll make it to the World Cup.

Born in Birmingham, Symonds could have played for England but dreamed only of wearing the baggy green. In 2004 his fantasy was fulfilled in decidedly unGabbalike surroundings: the crackling minefields of Sri Lanka. He batted gamely without looking altogether comfortable, and was dumped after two Tests. Almost two years later he received an extended run as Australia's selectors searched for an answer to Andrew Flintoff, but he couldn't consistently mirror his one-day performances. Faced with the axe, he cracked a huge six at the MCG to open his scoring in a pressure-relieving 72 from 54 balls, which included a ground record five maximums, but was dropped on the Bangladesh tour after struggling for reliable impact in the previous series against South Africa. Given another opportunity when Shane Watson was injured and Damien Martyn retired, he appeared in his first Ashes series and reached a career high in his second game with 156 at the MCG. Batting with his fishing friend Matthew Hayden, he showed he had the mindset to make it at Test level.