Andrew Symonds

Andrew Symonds Biography

Andrew Symonds, was an Australian all-rounder who was an integral part of the dominant Australian of the early 2000s.

Born on June 9, 1975 in Birmingham, Symonds had the option of playing for either of England or Australia, but he chose the Aussies.

Background

Symonds made his first-debut for Queensland during the 1994-95 season.

He scored 108 not out which was his maiden first class century.

Debut

He made his ODI debut for Australia in 1998, against Pakistan at Lahore. He bowled just two overs, and didn’t get an opportunity to bat.

He had to wait six years from then to make his Test debut, before eventually playing against Sri Lanka at Galle in 2004. He was dismissed for a duck in the first innings, before making 24 in the second. He picked up a wicket in the first innings.

He made his T20I debut in 2005 against New Zealand, smashing 32 runs off just 13 balls as Australia cantered to victory.

Rise to glory

His career picked up pace after 2003 World Cup where he scored an unmatchable 143 off 125 balls to lead Australia from a score of 86/4 to a 300 plus score. From then he averaged nearly 45 in all formats with a strike rate of 90-plus.

Low points

Known for his aggressive behavior, his temperament became a problem when he skipped a team meeting in 2005 to go fishing for which he was sacked from the national team.

In the same year he was banned for two ODIs when he turned up drunk on the morning of the match against Bangladesh.

Club career

Symonds has played for Deccan Chargers in the first three seasons of the IPL, for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2011.

Records

He scored 16 sixes and build up a score of 254 not out in county cricket in 1994. which was a record for the most sixes hit in a First class innings which remained unbroken for 20 years.

This record was later broken by Colin Munro of New Zealand who recorded 23 sixes during a game between Auckland and Central Districts in March 2015.

Retirement

Symonds broke the team rule against drinking and was thereby dropped from the squad in England on 2009 World T20 and following that his contract with Cricket Australia was annulled.

He thus retired from Test in 2009 but continued playing in IPL, but ultimately retired from all cricket in February 2012.