Australian cricketer’s impact measured by tributes

An Andrew Symonds stand in far north Queensland and a Cricket academy and Scholarship at his Gold Coast club are among the ways in which the all-rounder’s enormous contribution to Cricket may be ultimately recognized.

Discussions between the Symonds family and Cricket officialdom continue around Funeral arrangements, with the now likely scenario, for a private man, to include a private service that is available on video stream to the world.

Early consideration of more lasting tributes to the 46-year-old has included concepts such as naming the grandstand at Townsville’s Riverway Cricket stadium after him, in recognition of his background in the north of the state.

In terms of more national recognition, the men’s one-day cricketer of the year award remains Unnamed. Symonds Polled enough votes to win it in 2006 but was ineligible after his suspension for turning up drunk to a game against Bangladesh the previous year.

Jimmy Maher, Symonds’ former state and national teammate and managing director of the Bulls Masters, is leading discussions between the family and the Cricket Hierarchy, only a matter of weeks after he was also present in Queensland when Rod Marsh suffered an ultimately fatal heart attack .

Whatever the format, Symonds is already the subject of many heartfelt expressions of grief and appreciation, including a personal note left by his sister, Louise, at the crash site. “I wish we had one more day, one more phone call,” she wrote. “My heart is broken, I will always love you, my brother.”

Impromptu Sunday night wakes for Symonds were held at the Story Bridge Hotel in Brisbane, where many former state and national teammates gathered, and also at the home ground of the Gold Coast Dolphins Cricket club, for whom he played after moving to the area with his family aged 15.

A shrine to Symonds was set up in the middle of the Oval. It featured one of his original Slazenger bats, club stumps, and a West Indies hat for someone born in England but from the Caribbean parentage. So, too, a glass of beer, a club shirt and an under-18s Premiership cap.