Andrew Symonds Dies: Australian All-Round Great Loved By Teammates

Andrew Symonds, who died on Saturday night in a car crash aged 46, was instantly recognisable on the cricket field with a mop of dreadlocks poking out from his baggy green cap and lips gleaming with white zinc cream. A hulking presence at 6ft 2in (1.87m) with a grin as broad as his shoulders, he was a supremely talented all-rounder equally at home bowling spin or lively medium-pace.

Despite his size, Symonds was a lithe and athletic presence on the ground, with safe bucket-like hands and a laser throw that saw him rated one of the game's greatest fielders.

But he was at his most destructive with a bat in his hands.

Symonds -- nicknamed "Roy" -- played 26 Tests and 198 50-over games for Australia in an international career spanning more than a decade, from 1998 until 2009.

A pivotal member of Australia's 2003 and 2007 ODI World Cup-winning sides, Symonds took 133 wickets and scored 5,088 runs at an average of 39.75 in that format.

He passed three figures six times in the 50-over game and fifty on 30 more occasions, with a top score of 156 against New Zealand in 2005.

In Tests, mostly batting at number six, he scored 1,462 runs at a healthy average of 40.61, with two hundreds and 10 fifties.

Symonds was used only as an occasional bowler in the five-day game, taking just 24 wickets.

His best innings of 162 not out came against India in the Sydney New Year Test of 2008 -- but it was overshadowed by the "Monkeygate" scandal that erupted later in that match.

Symonds accused spinner Harbhajan Singh of calling him a "monkey" during an ill-tempered third day.

Singh, who denied any wrongdoing, was suspended for three matches, but the ban was overturned when India threatened to quit the tour, sending India-Australia cricket