Published: Jul 07, 2016, 07:40 PM (IST)
Edited: Jul 07, 2016, 07:40 PM (IST)
Former Australian all-rounder, Andrew Symonds, believes he has enough knowledge and is ready to take up the coaching job. He feels he has played in every corner of the world and is well accustomed to the different conditions and finds it the perfect time to give something back to the game. He would be eager to get his first hand at the coaching job in the shortest format of the game. He further stated that he has enough knowledge to teach the youngsters of the game and learn from him. On being asked about what his advice would be if a youngster comes up to him for help, he stated on the importance of enjoying the game while playing it and keeping things simple. ALSO READ:Andrew Symonds is my idol, says Australian woman cricketer Ashleigh Gardner
According to cricbuzz.com, on being asked whether how his game changed after a see-saw ride in the first five years in international cricket, he replied, “Ricky Ponting was instrumental in my career going forward. I suppose the 2003 World Cup was probably where it was most obvious that he wanted me on that tour. I had not really scored a lot of runs to have warranted a spot on that tour, but he had a gut feeling that I was going to come good. Fortunately, on that tour we had Michael Bevan injured and Darren Lehmann out suspended so I had to play and I had some success and from that point on, I sort of worked out how to be a successful international batsman.”
He termed the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 victory as special since Australia had gone through a lot in the run up to the mega event. He said, “I have never seen a more nervous Australian dressing room. It was so quiet and you could see everyone was so nervous. We were missing key players and this was the reason for the tensed atmosphere in the dressing room.Other teams could sniff that we were possibly going to have some weak areas and that this might be the weakest Australian side that they’ve seen for a while and they might have an opportunity to knock us off. In came players like Andy Bichel, Brad Hogg and that was when I sort of started to work things out a bit better. We went through that whole World Cup undefeated”, said the elated Symonds of their third World Cup title in 2003.
Talking about Ricky Ponting’s captaincy and his role on his career, he told, “He was very easy to work under. He would give me simple tasks that I could carry out. I found him excellent because I like to keep things fairly simple. That is the style he had – to keep things simple.”
On being asked about his approach to the game as an all-rounder, the former cricketer said, “The idea of batting is to score runs. But for me, it was about trying to find the right balance – not to be over-aggressive and reckless but be aggressive enough to be able to put enough pressure on the opposition. For me it was finding that balance. I train pretty hard. Once I worked out that I was going to bowl a fair bit and wanted to be dynamic in the field, then having to bat, I got to a point in my career where I was incredibly fit and strong, so I could handle the workload and the rigours of doing those three things. For me, that was key. If I felt fit and strong, obviously I would do my skill work, but in my head, I was good to go.” ALSO READ:When Andrew Symonds knocked-down a streaker on pitch
Symonds was an extra ordinary fielder during his stint with the national team and he shared his experience as a fielder and how important he regarded this department of the game. “Fielding was a very big part of our success. Catching, creating run-outs, stopping runs, was a big part of the pressure system we used to use in one-day cricket. Then in Test cricket, our catching in slips was something the boys would pride themselves on that. The best coach that I probably had for skills was a bloke called Mike Young, who was a baseball coach, but came into cricket. He taught me so much in a short period of time, just about throwing and moving your feet, using your body; take pressure off your shoulder so you did not injure yourself… that sort of thing. He taught us injury-prevention, skills, footwork and all sorts of things. He is the best coach I have been trained under for those reasons.”
