Five Aussie cricket greats will farewell Andrew Symonds at memorial service for late all-rounder

Five of Australian’s cricketing greats and close friends of Andrew Symonds will speak at the memorial service for the late great all-rounder this week.

Symonds died in a car crash just outside of Townsville on May 14 aged 46 and his life will be remembered at a public service in the city on Friday.

Title ‘Celebrating Roy,’ the service will be held at Townsville’s Riverway Stadium from 2:30pm until 4pm and will be open to the general public.

Adam Gilchrist (left) won the 2003 and 2007 World Cup with Andrew Symonds (middle)

Former Australia wicketkeepers Ian Healy and Adam Gilchrist will speak at the service, as will former Queensland Bulls captain Jimmy Maher and former Australia’s Test coach Darren Lehmann.

Matthew Mott, one of Symonds’ childhood friend and the newly-appointed England white ball coach, will also speak at the memorial.

Along with Symonds, Gilchrist and Lehmann were part of the team that won the 2003 Cricket World, with the former pair also in the squad as Australia successfully defended their title four years later.

Gilchrist and Symonds were close friends and the star wicketkeeper helped turn the latter into a commentator for Fox Sports and described Symonds as ‘having a security blanket’ in the team.

Symonds, pictured here at Shane Warne’s memorial in March, died on May 14 aged 46

Former Australia wicket-keeper Ian Healy will speak at a service in memory of Symonds

As will newly-appointed England white ball and Symonds’ childhood friend Matthew Mott (left) and former Australia Test coach Darren Lehmann (right) 

Healy and Maher, meanwhile, played together with Symonds at state level for Queensland, with the latter being a close confidante of the late all-rounder.

Symonds 40.6 with the bat and 37.3 with the ball in Test cricket, while his ODI figures were not too dissimilar at 39.7 with the bat and 37.2 with the bat. 

Speaking last week, however, Healy said Symonds’ contribution to the game could not just be measured by numbers.

‘Stats paint a good picture about how good he was as a player but he was always much more than his stats,’ he told the Courier Mail. 

Former Queensland Bulls captain Jimmy Maher (pictured here with Symonds following their loss in the 2005 Pura Cup final) will also speak at the service 

‘He lived the Bulls way. The team side of things was everything to him. He was a hard worker at training. And he would help out other players in the nets.

‘It seems appropriate to name an award for best team player after him.’ 

Mott and Symonds played cricket together growing up and famously put up a mammoth 446-run stand while playing for Gold Coast against South Brisbane at under-19 level.

Brisbane poet Rupert McCall will recite a poem celebrating Symonds’ life at the service, which will be preceded by a private funeral.