Matthew Hayden explains in an excerpt from his new book how the Australian team changed and why Andrew Symonds fell out of love with the game.
In August 2008, Andrew Symonds missed a team meeting in Darwin before the first one-dayer in a series against Bangladesh because he was fishing, and was sent home.
The day after, my mobile beeped.
It was a message and photo from Symo. Sporting the blissful smile of an angler who'd filled his creel, Symo proudly displayed a giant barramundi.
"Do you want to play for Australia?" I asked.
"Ummm, yeah," he replied. It wasn't exactly convincing.
"There's no half commitment," I said. "You either want to play for Australia or you don't.
"If you don't, put it there -- I offered him my hand -- because you've made Test match hundreds, won World Cups, Sheffield Shields. You've done everything in the game. You've been amazing.
Gen Y Culture
Symo was missed by the Australian team for reasons people probably would never appreciate.
The dressing-room was the poorer for his absence.
He was a "roll up your sleeves, she'll be right, mate" sort of guy.
Symo keeps life very simple and you can't bulls. . t someone who keeps it as simple as he does.
An Unfortunate End
My one regret for Symo is the way he handled the end.
As he was flying home from the Twenty20 World Cup, I caught him by phone and encouraged him to tell the full story, to say something like, "Sorry, but I just don't want to play any more. The game is moving in a different direction to the way I most enjoyed it, and I still want to have a beer with my mates.
In August 2008, Andrew Symonds missed a team meeting in Darwin before the first one-dayer in a series against Bangladesh because he was fishing, and was sent home.
The day after, my mobile beeped.
It was a message and photo from Symo. Sporting the blissful smile of an angler who'd filled his creel, Symo proudly displayed a giant barramundi.
"Do you want to play for Australia?" I asked.
"Ummm, yeah," he replied. It wasn't exactly convincing.
"There's no half commitment," I said. "You either want to play for Australia or you don't.
"If you don't, put it there -- I offered him my hand -- because you've made Test match hundreds, won World Cups, Sheffield Shields. You've done everything in the game. You've been amazing.
Gen Y Culture
Symo was missed by the Australian team for reasons people probably would never appreciate.
The dressing-room was the poorer for his absence.
He was a "roll up your sleeves, she'll be right, mate" sort of guy.
Symo keeps life very simple and you can't bulls. . t someone who keeps it as simple as he does.
An Unfortunate End
My one regret for Symo is the way he handled the end.
As he was flying home from the Twenty20 World Cup, I caught him by phone and encouraged him to tell the full story, to say something like, "Sorry, but I just don't want to play any more. The game is moving in a different direction to the way I most enjoyed it, and I still want to have a beer with my mates.
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