Former Australian all rounder Andrew Symonds killed in car crash

It has been a truly upsetting time for Australian cricket in the past month or so.  Following the loss of Shane Warne, it was announced on Saturday that Andrew Symonds had passed at the age of 46 after a car crash.

The all-rounder played 26 tests for Australia along with 198 one day internationals and 14 Twenty 20’s between 1998 and 2009.

Symonds was also part of two successful 50 over World Cup winning side and and the victorious Ashes side that conquered England in 2006-7.

Born in Birmingham, but raised in Australia, Symonds also played county cricket for Gloucestershire, Kent, Lancashire and Surrey.

He also played for Queensland for 17 seasons along with a spell at both Deccan Chargers and Mumbai Indians in the IPL.

Up until last week he had jointly held the record for the most sixes in a County Championship innings, having smashed 16 in an innings for Gloucestershire against Glamorgan in 1995, that was until Ben Stokes broke the record last week.

Symonds is best known with the white ball version of the game, having scored over 5,000 runs at an average of 39.75 taking 133 wickets.

His career was not without controversy, however. Back in 2009 he was sent home from the World Twenty 20 in England for disciplinary reasons. Earlier in the 2005 tour of England he was dropped from the side for two ODI’s for turning up drunk to a match against Bangladesh at Cardiff.

In 2008, more controversy followed him around when he was sent home from Australia’s One Day series against Bangladesh in Darwin after missing a team meeting in order to go fishing.

Overall, he was a wonderful entertainer. Off the field at times was controversial, but when on the field always wanted to put on a show, which he always did and rarely let his audience down.

His time at Gloucestershire 1995-6, Kent 1999-2004, Lancashire 2005 and Surrey 2010 will be remembered by the fans of English cricket for a man who wanted to entertain for his admirers.

Off the field he would always love to spend his time fishing in between playing the game he loved. Another great entertainer we have lost this year. Gone but not forgotten by fans of both English and Australian cricket.

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