Veteran Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds, who played for the team from 1998 to 2012, passed away today in a car accident that took place in Townsville, Queensland, aged 46. Several Australian cricketers have expressed their grief over Symonds’ passing away and offered their condolences to his family. This is the third cricketer that Australia lost in the past few months, with Rod Marsh and Shane Warne passing away recently. Players from across the world have expressed their grief over Symonds’ passing.
Andrew Symonds became a very valuable player for the Australian team within a short period of time and was the team’s best all-rounder throughout his playing career. He represented Australia in 26 tests, 198 ODIs and 14 T20s. He was also a part of the teams that won the 2003 and 2007 ODI world cups in Australia. Cricket Australia chairman Lachlan Henderson offered his condolences to the family of Symonds, hailing his achievements of Symonds throughout his career. He said that Symonds will always live in the hearts of his fans and through his achievements.
Symonds started playing first-class cricket in 1994-1995 and made his international debut in 1998. Symonds made his ODI debut on the tour of Pakistan and played his last ODI against the same team in 2009. He made his test debut against Sri Lanka in 2004 and played his last test against South Africa in 2008. Symonds made his T20 debut against New Zealand in 2005, and his last T20 match was against Pakistan in 2009. He scored 5,088 runs in ODIs, 1,462 in tests and 337 in T20. He also took 24 wickets in tests, 133 in ODIs and 8 in T20. Symonds also represented Hyderabad between 2008 and 2010 in IPL and Mumbai in 2011.