Roy

Most of you who read regularly here, or those who were regular during the passionate days of the Australian encounters, would recall that I had my opnion as regards Andrew Symonds. A few might have made the efforts to understand the basis of my opinions while most felt they were not on.

I feel no joy today that the progression of events are confirming those opinions of mine pertaining to that period, as good friend Park has reminded me. There cannot be any joy gained to know you identified an illness in a person. There cannot be any joy in seeing he was denied the help he needed. No...I merely feel sad at the tragedy of it all.

My greatest fear however is that due to that period of time and the opinions which had to be voiced then, it is possible that those views would form the identity of what I actually think about Roy. Perhaps I am also at fault for not conveying to my readers those impressions I fear will remain unaired on this blog. Perhaps I began to blog at such a time when the Symo spats commenced...July 2007 was when I began this blog...and I allowed myself to focus more on those than bring out the admiration I had for him as a player.

People I have interacted with before on BBC's boards might recall of those positive views of mine. They might recall my support for Symonds' inclusion into the test team way back before he was actually inducted, and my reasons thereof. They might recall my awe at his all-skills prowess in the one-day game.

Things changed, Symonds became Symo for some and Roy for others. Andrew began trying to men something to everyone. And dissociation is a dark confusing world. But all this I have gone over in earlier posts and is not the focus of this post.

I just wanted to record my appreciation for Symonds, one of the most complete one-day players ever....and who could have become a decent test player if the devil times hadn't descended upon when he finally had the chance. can you ever forget his WC innings and the all-round performance in that.

A few links -

Vijay Tagore recalls Stephen Gray, the co-author of Roy: Going For Broke, brings out some aspects of Andrew Symonds’ life - cricket may be Symonds’ profession but fishing has been passion since childhood. He spends hours in the water trying to catch the fish. Actually, he almost lost his life because of his hobby.

Conn man, a Fox-y writer you may all recall from Symo-Harby days, again says many things in his own fauxy way -

Some CA board members are still annoyed that Symonds was not sent home from England and believe the problems with him now would not be so great if stronger action had been taken against him three years ago. - Malcolm Conn


Symonds has a moody side and like too many footballers of various codes, alcohol and Symonds are a bad mix.

He has regularly confronted me in bars, usually during team celebrations.

Having travelled to all of cricket's most difficult and dangerous locations over the past two decades I have only felt physically threatened twice.

One was when a guard outside the palatial residence of Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe, which is across the road from the cricket ground in Harare, held me up at bayonet point while two army officers interrogated me for 20 minutes. The other was when Symonds saw me in a bar during the 2004 Sri Lanka tour and shaped up before team security grabbed him and moved him on.

I am convinced the main reason CA has permanent team security is to act as a minder for Symonds.

By sending him home his teammates and CA officials have probably saved Symonds from himself. - Malcolm Conn


Tom Smithies emphasizes "respect" - You also have to laugh when someone such as Symonds, having broken his team's rules, then asks the world to "respect my privacy" as he contemplates walking away from the preposterous earnings and opportunities that elite sportsmen are granted.

In the Symonds case consider the words of Michael Clarke, vice captain of the Australian team and for rather longer a close friend to the all-rounder. Their history counted for little when Clarke questioned Symonds's attitude, and his commitment and spoke of things that Symonds wasn't fulfilling. A lack, in short, of respect.

Jamie Pandaram from Darwin Symonds is seriously contemplating retirement. His relationship with senior Australian players is also fractured after he reacted furiously to being sent home from Darwin, exchanging heated words with stand-in captain Michael Clarke when told to pack his bags. He has not contacted any player in Darwin since flying back to Brisbane on Saturday, and a friend said Symonds was "angry, hurt and embarrassed".

The leadership group felt he was not fully committed to the team. As one team source said: "When you are playing for the world's best cricket team, you need to give 100 per cent - 99 per cent doesn't cut it."

Shane Watson is expected to be recalled to the team

I certainly will be sad to see this man end his career so...no greater tragedy when talented players like Roy, Harbhajan, Asif, Akhtar and Fredalo made a mes of their careers. These are all players who could have achieved far greater heights but for the indiscretions or mental agonies which bedevilled them. A few of them have managed to gather themselves and move on...I sincerely hope Roy comes back well and better to complete the unfinished task of a proper goodbye to his career.