Andrew Symonds

'It was there on a platter': Poms' 'very enticing' offer to pinch Symonds revealed.

“For him, it was never a monetary thing. There was a lot of money thrown at him, but for him it was more about that journey of trying to fulfil his childhood dreams, and nothing was going to get in the way of that. “For me, it got down to his moral compass, and he wanted to play for Australia, he was desperate to play for Australia. He loved Australia, he loved the bush, he loved everything about Australia.

Much-loved Australian cricketer Andrew “Roy” Symonds has been farewelled in Townsville after dying in a car crash earlier this month.

“I’ve not seen a congregation be so moved,” he said. It encapsulated perfectly who Roy was.” What’s happened over the last few months, certainly I’ve learnt a lot from that, and I think we’ll take it upon ourselves to make sure that we were spending more time together because you just never know what’s around the corner. “It was magic. “That’s the game. “When things weren’t going great he withdrew a bit and it was our job to say ‘we need to get you up’. The more he thought about things and deliberated the worse he was.”

Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting and Matthew Mott among those to honour the allrounder.

To assess what had to be said, and to say it." "He owned his mistakes, he put others before himself to see what has to be done, and to do it. "Bowlers once dominant cowered in fear, he came and he saw and he saved his Test career," McCall recited.

Andrew Symonds' former teammate Matthew Mott has revealed how close the cricket legend came to representing England, saying his decision to play for ...

He was actually well down the pecking order in Australia at that stage, he was struggling in first-class cricket more or less, so it was a big call to make, but that summed him up as a person." "For him, it was never a monetary thing. "A lot of people would've gone the other way at that stage because it was very enticing.

The life of Australian cricketing great Andrew Symonds has been celebrated in Townsville, north Queensland. Zilla Gordon reports.