Roy was hated by many, and loved by few.
That was part of the appeal; everyone doesn’t love the best artists, otherwise Nick Cave would outsell NSYNC.
Roy was the Daniel Johnston of cricket.
While others fiddled, tweaked, over thought and planned their cricket, he just went with simple instinct.
Batsmen can often end up being nervous wrecks; all rounders have a certain freedom, and Roy used his handy bowling as an excuse to bat like a free spirited nudist.
His off spin and medium pace could be compared to Johnston’s music; it was there, but it wasn’t the reason you came, but when seen with Roy’s batting, which were the Johnston lyrics, the whole thing made sense.
Roy’s batting was straightforward, keep out the good ball, and hit the bad ball as hard as you can.
Some batsmen treat spinners like they are magicians bowling down a cricket ball hidden in a bowl of fruit, Symonds treated them like any other bowler.
He was fragile, like Johnston, usually not on the field, but off the field you feel he needed his tyres pumped more than most. , his potential was always there, but he needed someone to get it out of him.
Ricky became his cricketing daddy; without Ponting, Roy would never have made it.
Johnston has never been known as an intelligent man, and some say he isn’t even a genius, just an idiot that writes stupid pop lyrics. They may be right.
Roy could also be a brute that hit the ball so hard he got away with a career.
But I’d take 1 Roy before I’d take a bunch of Bells or Princes.
He brought colour to the game, and I like characters in my cricket, even the ones I don’t like.
I am not sure if Roy was a lucky bullying slogger or a simple batting genius, but fuck I liked having him around.
Why do I think we are the ones who lose out here, some lose a hero, some lose a villain, but we all lose someone different.
While I am sure Roy would hate Daniel Johnston’s music, but when I was writing this these lyrics kept coming back to me.
If I was a cricus man
Then I’d be a circus man
Only you could understand
All my life ahead of me
That’s the way it ought to be
Circus take me away
Yonder where I’ve been again
Then I’ll be back again
Be a brand new day
its a shame really. its a bit rich for CA to end someone’s career for drinking when your major sponsor is VB. i would say symmo was doing the right thing by sponsors! ; )
now can we come up with some way of finishing off bhajji?! we need a proper spinner in the indian team.
Sunny, i never thought of that, genius you are.
I’m thinking he’s more like Jimmy Barnes.
Sad..
I’m sensing that Symond’s words when he lands in Australia will be very much about lashing out at CA.. I don’t see a “I’m sorry I made a mistake” type of speech coming.
Q’s last blog post..World Twenty20: 12 Captains, 12 Facts, 12 Questions
stupid bugger!
but I wish he’d been able to get it together
ya…..now they want to do away with sehwag in the indian team!…..what a travesty!
Crash Craddock, in a case quite possibly of the pot calling the kettle, said about Symonds in the Courier-Mail, “He is a boofhead. They are weak as water. It really is that simple.”
Weak as water meaning he can’t control himself.
As an Aussie I have played cricket with lots of macho yob boofheads like Symonds. Important to the team, because they can play. Painful to have to manage if you are the captain, a senior player, or an administrator (generally I was at least one) because these blokes you have keep tugging their dicks for them, so they feel good and get the results on the paddock.
But the hassle of trying to manage them was nothing compared to the sheer fucking tedium of drinking with them after the game. Every time I would sit there and put up with these dickheads getting pissed. Eventually I would have enough piss in me that I would want a cone and get a bit mellow.
Because these macho dicks can’t stand being alone we would have to invite them along for a smoke – People, do not give marijuana to the macho men, I’m begging you. Once they have had a smoke, invariably, I am telling you this happens every time, once they are stoned the macho men … SIT THERE AND CRY. Fuck me, it is so fucking boring to sit through.
The IPL is made for a player like Symonds. He can spend most of the year out of the spotlight fishing, then blast away a few weeks.