“If Roy shook your hand you had his word, that’s the sort of bloke he was and that’s why I always wanted him on my team,” Ponting, who is currently coaching at the IPL, tweeted. “An extraordinary player and even better human being. Can’t believe he’s gone. Thoughts are with his family at this time.”
“He was a heart and soul type of guy that just made you happy,” Gilchrist told SEN. “It was the most pure approach to sport from Symmo. It was simple: you play it because you enjoy it, you work hard, and then after it – win, lose or draw – you dust yourself off with your mates, and then you go again.”
Gilchrist reflected on Symonds’ ability to pull Australia out of trouble in one-day cricket and recalled the century at the Wanderers.
“We found ourselves in trouble, Roy went in at 4 for 80 or something and pulled off one of the great hundreds, that was the launch of an undefeated run at a World Cup,” he said. “Without Roy’s innings in that game who knows what happens, he set the tone. That’s probably the innings that really springs to mind for me.”
“Arguably the greatest all-round fielder ever,” Rhodes tweeted, “on top of his contribution with both bat [and] ball.”