In another tragic blow to Australian cricket, Andrew Symonds has died in a car accident, aged 46.
Senior cricket journalist Robert Craddock reports that the former all-rounder was killed about 50kms outside Townsville on Saturday night.
A Queensland police statement says Symonds was in a single-car crash about 10.30pm.
Symonds was driving on Hervey Range Road near the Alice River Bridge when his car left the road and rolled, police say.
Paramedics arrived at the scene but couldn’t revive the former Australian fan favourite, who was the only person in the car.
Former teammate and Fox Cricket colleague Adam Gilchrist led the tributes for the man affectionately known as Roy.
“This really hurts,” tweeted Gilchrist, while Michael Vaughan wrote: “Simmo .. This doesn’t feel real.”
“Horrendous news to wake up to,” tweeted Jason Gillepsie. “Utterly devastated.
“We are all gonna miss you mate.”
Meanwhile, Australia great Mark Taylor paid tribute to Symonds on Channel 9 as the news broke.
“I can’t quite believe it. Another tragic day for cricket. Bad things do happen in threes,” he said.
Taylor added: “He was just an entertainer. In an era where professionalism really is a throw away word that we use probably too often. Symo was the older sort of guy.
“He wanted to go out there and have fun and play the game he remembered to play it as a kid.
“At times he got in trouble for not going to training or maybe having a few too many beers at life but that is the way he lived his life and the way he wanted to play his cricket also.”
Symonds is the third Australian cricket legend to suddenly pass away this year following the tragic deaths of Shane Warne and Rod Marsh in March.
Symonds played 26 Tests for Australia, and was an integral part of Australia’s white ball sides that dominated the world between 1999 and 2007.
He won ODI World Cups in 2003 and 2007, with the former tournament including a stunning, breakout 143 not out against Pakistan that set-up the rest of his career.
Symonds was a force in limited-overs cricket, scoring 5,088 runs at 39.75 and taking 133 wickets at 37.25, while he was one of the game’s finest fielders.
He was once pigeonholed as only a white ball player, but eventually broke into Australia’s Test team in 2004, going on to average 40.61 with the bat and score two centuries.
In playing retirement, both Warne and Symonds were valued members of Fox Cricket’s commentary team.
Symonds’ last post on Instagram came after the death of Warne, when he wrote: “Devastated, I’m hoping this is all a bad dream.
“I just can’t get my head around never seeing you again.”
He was famously a keen fisherman and would often be found out on a boat when not commentating for Fox Cricket.
Symonds is survived by wife Laura and young children Chloe and Billy.
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