In 2006, Australia was in trouble at 5/84 on the second day
of the fourth Ashes Test. The incoming batsman was Andrew Symonds, a man whose
talent was widely known, but rarely fully exercised in the Test match arena.
The opposition had their tails up, after removing three of Australia’s in-form
batsmen early that morning. The situation was pleading for patience and calm –
circumstances in which Andrew Symonds was not expected to succeed.
He took 22 deliveries to get off the mark which for most
people would be a sign of paralysis, but in Symonds’ case, it was a positive
departure from the expectations of many pundits. It made everyone believe that
he wanted to stick around.
129 balls later, Symonds reached his hundred with a six. The
reaction that followed was rousing. It was such a genuine celebration from
Symonds, one that was indicative of the personal struggles that he had gone
through to reach that point. That century may never have happened if it weren’t
for his past failures, and all the controversy that had previously surrounded
him. Many had questioned his commitment to the game and his team, but he had
come through it.
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| Andrew Symonds' emotions overflow as he brings up his hundred in the 2006/07 Ashes series. Photo: Reuters |
Andrew Symonds was born on 9 June 1975 in Birmingham, England. One of his biological parents is of West Indian heritage; the other is believed to be Danish. When Symonds was just three months old, he moved to Australia after being adopted by Ken and Barbara Symonds. In his autobiography ‘Going for Broke’, Andrew says that he is not sensitive about his adoption, and is very content with the parents he has. “...I’ve no desire to ‘rediscover my roots’, and I don’t spend time imagining what my biological parents might be like...”
Symonds’ cricketing talent was evident as a young man. He
attended the Cricket Academy at the age of 19, and made his first class debut
for Queensland soon after. However, it wasn’t until the 1997/98 Sheffield
Shield season where he began to string some performances together. He averaged
just over 50 that year, including four hundreds. He was quickly becoming known
as one of the most explosive batsmen in the country. He was rewarded for this
good form with selection in the Australian one-day side late in 1998.
He found himself in and out of the Australian one-day team
for the next five years, struggling with consistency. He was well established
as a pinch-hitter, and was yet to be taken seriously as a player that could bat
for long periods of time. Impatience was costing him, a characteristic that
would later on prove a source of concern off the cricket pitch.
Still yet to fulfil his potential, Symonds’ break came in
2003. A host of injuries to other players meant that he was sent to South
Africa on the eve of the World Cup. Whilst there was criticism that Australia
needed a ‘proper’ batsman, captain Ricky Ponting stood up for Symonds and
ultimately got him the opportunity. The next few weeks proved to be the best form
Symonds had shown on the international stage, and was a prominent figure
throughout Australia’s successful World Cup campaign.
After his outstanding performances throughout the 2003 World
Cup, Symonds was fast becoming one of Australia’s most popular players.
However, this didn’t come without controversy. In fact, Symonds had a string of
off-field dramas that would ultimately lead to his fallout from the Australian
cricket team.
In 2005, the Australian team was in England competing in a
one-day series. They had a match coming up against minnows Bangladesh, but
Symonds decided to go out on the eve of the game. "Ah, it's only
Bangladesh," he wrote in his autobiography, "a little bit of fizz
won't be a worry."
He returned to the team hotel after sunrise, and was woken
up only when team mate Michael Clarke put him in the shower. Mainly due to
Clarke’s efforts, he made it to the ground on the team bus. However, Symonds
raised the suspicions of his captain and coach when he slipped off a wheelie
bin while doing his stretches.
"You're drunk. You're not playing today," Coach
John Buchanan told Symonds.
"No, I'm right to go," Symonds replied. "I'm
playing."
Buchanan then told Symonds to “sort himself out.”
Explanations to cover the story such as flu and injury were now being
considered by staff. This did not sit well with Symonds.
"As it started to sink in that I was gone I fired up. If
you're going to drop me, then you better tell them why or I will." Symonds
recalls in his autobiography.
The story ended up coming out during the match, as Symonds later
faced a disciplinary hearing.
As Symonds explains, he then had to deal with the anger of
his team mates – "The team meeting went for ages... They might have been
my mates, but they were united in their fury at my actions."
The situation was compounded by the fact that Australia lost
the game. With an Ashes series so close, the loss put an amount of unnecessary
pressure on the team.
Ultimately, Symonds was sent home from the tour.
"... I felt as if my guts had been ripped out because
I'd let down some of my closest mates, my family and, let's face it, the whole
country.” Symonds also made himself ineligible for the Allan Border Medal that
year, further illustrating the regret that he felt.
Symonds then began the long process that would culminate in
that century in an Ashes test match. Even though he had made his test debut in
2004, he had hardly been impressive. At first, many doubted that he would ever
be capable of playing in the national test side again. Many believed that,
despite his impressive one-day performances in the past, his style was simply
unfit for tests.
But Symonds worked on his game, demonstrating a more
conservative approach in his return to the domestic competition. His performances
were telling people he could be versatile, applying new-found patience whenever
he could.
This struggle and doubt is what led up to his innings at the
MCG in 2006. To see Symonds once again be at the top of his game, and to
witness the emotion that poured out of him when he got there, was special. Whilst this is not his full story, this chapter of his career is a perfect insight into the character of Andrew Symonds.
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