Broken records, broken rules: The forgotten Andrew Symonds saga

It is 30 years since a Queensland teen landed in the UK and blasted a spectacular world record that stood for almost two decades. In doing so, he ignited a firestorm over his national eligibility

Gloucestershire's Andrew Symonds was just three weeks removed from hitting a world record 20 sixes in a first-class match when he drew the ire of one of cricket's most powerful figures.

"As long as I remain (England) chairman of selectors," said Ray Illingworth in September 1995, "I won't pick him again."

Illingworth's remark came after 20-year-old Symonds' decision to opt out of an England A tour to Pakistan. It marked the crescendo to a drawn-out period of confusion and controversy, played out simultaneously in the micro world of England's County Championship and the macro world of Anglo-Australian relations.

But the messiness of the Symonds eligibility affair – which dominated the cricket conversation throughout that English autumn, then rumbled on for another year – was in stark contrast to the astonishing innings that triggered the drama. It was one that broke all manner of records and, according to some, precipitated a shift in the way an entire generation of English cricket was played.

* * *

The savvier types in the halls of England's Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB) had their interest piqued eight months earlier.

On December 17, 1994, wedged between a couple of hidings in the first and second Ashes Tests, England found themselves in the quaint surrounds of Toowoomba's Heritage Oval for a four-day match against Queensland.

The Bulls had made a last-minute decision to rest their major drawcard, Allan Border, as they chased a maiden Sheffield Shield title. Having retired from international cricket earlier that year, Border had been tasked by Queensland's new head coach John Buchanan with keeping an eye on the squad's youngsters, including Symonds, who had taken to calling the 39-year-old "Grandpa Smurf".

And it was Symonds who was named to replace Border, despite having just finished a four-day game for the Australian Cricket Academy (ACA) at the Gabba. His inclusion meant potentially eight consecutive days of cricket. But for the Birmingham-born 19-year-old, who had moved to Australia with his adopted parents as an infant, an opportunity was an opportunity. He jumped at it.

Symonds had played his first two Shield games the previous month, going largely unnoticed in scoring 56 runs in three innings. Queensland types, however, knew the latent talent they had. By stumps on day three against England, he had showcased his promise with a stroke-laden 108no from 127 balls. At 19 years, 193 days, he was the youngest Queensland player to score a first-class hundred. Interest soon spread.

"Symonds was inundated by inquiries from English media about where his allegiances lay," read a newspaper report the next day, "(but) proudly declared himself Australian and voiced his highest aspiration, to play Test cricket for Australia. 'Definitely an Aussie', Symonds said. 'I guess that if I wanted to play for England, I would go and play there … I think they (the Australian Cricket Board) spend $30,000 per cricketer in the eight months you are in Adelaide – it's a lot of money for a kick in the face, I suppose'."

But a one-year deal with Gloucestershire was already in place. Arranged with the help of Ian Healy and Queensland Academy of Sport coach Dave Gilbert, who had played for the county, it was enough for interested parties in both hemispheres to quietly keep tabs on the young batter.

A 19-year-old Symonds salutes after his maiden first-class hundred, scored for Queensland against England // Getty

For the rest of the Australian summer, Symonds was largely surplus to Queensland's requirements. On April 4, a week after the state was toasting a landmark first Shield title, he was in Hamilton, New Zealand, scoring a second first-class hundred, this time as part of the ACA side against their New Zealand counterparts. It was a year since he had also shone on an Australia Under-19s tour to India, hitting 163 in a four-day match – the visitors' highest score of the series. Despite those two centuries, plus the one against England, the strength of Queensland's batting meant he remained the best-kept secret in ACA supremo Rod Marsh's enviable stable.

Symonds flew into England shortly after that New Zealand tour, less than three weeks before the County season opener. He was being billeted by Gloucester couple Suzanne and Nick Finch, and settled quickly, making an instant impression on his teammates.

"I could see it in the nets, even before we got into the games, with the way he was timing the ball," recalls Indian great Javagal Srinath, who was 25 and had also signed on for his first County season.

"He was built big, but you could see he was a youngster. He was clearly far better than anybody else in the side. He was middling the ball, he was aggressive, and he brought a lot of life.

"Everybody was talking about how close he was with Allan Border, and how (Border) was shaping his career."

Symonds was a bundle of energy and positivity in fielding practice, diving around, chasing stray balls, and turning his hand to off-spin or seam in the nets. For a Gloucestershire side that had endured some lean years, he made for a pleasant addition to the environment.

"The training sessions were unbelievable," says former wicketkeeper Reg Williams. "Here was this kid, zinc smeared across his lips, looking a million dollars in the nets, and he just had this real excitement about him, which was infectious for the whole squad; the whole squad loved him."

After hitting 80 and 31no against a Leicestershire Second XI, Symonds' first team debut came in a 55-overs-per-side game in the Benson and Hedges Cup at Gloucestershire's home ground in Bristol, against a Combined Universities XI.

"In those days, the early part of the one-day comp would include teams outside the first-class game – and they're potential banana skins," says former allrounder Mark Alleyne, now Gloucestershire head coach. "So while the rest of us were a bit apprehensive about the chance of slipping up to a lesser side, that didn't once cross (Symonds') mind. He never approached anything with any trepidation, really. He just walked out there and took it on."

Symonds arrived at the crease with the score 4-86, and set about tearing the bowling apart. In a little over an hour, he crashed 95 from 70 balls to signal his arrival in the UK.

Better was to come four days later in his County debut, against Surrey at The Oval.

"Wow," says Alleyne, thinking back. "What an amazing innings that was."

Before stumps on day one, Gloucestershire were all out for 392. Symonds, still six weeks shy of turning 20, had come in at No.6 and blitzed the Surrey attack to the tune of 161no from 140 deliveries, with 21 fours and four sixes. It was his third first-class century, in just his ninth innings.

Srinath remembers Symonds as "an absolute revelation – the complete package" while top-order batter Tim Hancock, who played more than 400 matches for Gloucestershire through that period, was equally blown away.

"I was 22, making my way in the game, just sort of fiddling around on slow little English seamers at Bristol," he grins. "And 'Simmo' waltzes up to The Oval in our first game of the season and smacks 160, easy as you like.

"Surrey were quite a brash, cocky lot, and they would've got stuck into him a bit, but he just stuck two fingers up and hit them all around South London for an afternoon. He was a bit special, to be honest. You could see that."

It was during this innings that a couple of Symonds' new teammates learned of one of his more peculiar habits.

"It was this quirky thing that he had," grins Alleyne. "I don't know if he did it in Australia, but he always wanted to hit the first ball after an interval for six.

"If he was not out at lunch or tea, that was all he talked about: 'I'm going to hit the first ball for six'. And he did, every time – well, he tried it every time (laughs). It was so premeditated, and I think it summed him up – playing without fear is something he brought straight away to the group."

Symonds in action during a one-dayer against Somerset // Getty

Symonds scored 102 in Gloucestershire's next game, against Somerset at Taunton. After 10 first-class innings in three countries, he was averaging 59.60. Inevitably, tongues began wagging.

"When he first arrived, it went a little unnoticed, really," recalls Hancock. "But within no time at all, the press were onto it."

So too was Graham Gooch. Having played the last of his 118 Tests just three months earlier, and still trotting around on the first-class scene with Essex, 41-year-old Gooch took umbrage with Symonds having signed for Gloucestershire as a local player (which he was permitted to do given he was born in the UK), as well as the system that allowed it.

"You cannot deny people their birthright and I have no problem with people who have qualified like Allan Lamb, Robin Smith and Graeme Hick," he said.

"But where I do have a problem is with people who … swan in and play cricket and then swan out again. I've nothing personal against the lad (Symonds). But I have no respect for his standpoint."

The UK press had by then gleefully seized on Symonds reportedly having said he was "a fair dinkum Aussie", despite subsequently signing a declaration of his availability for England (when registering as a local County player). Which is where the waters began to muddy. Symonds later revealed he received a letter prior to the County season from then Australian Cricket Board CEO Graham Halbish, stating he "would not be qualified for England until two years after playing for Australia's Under-19 side", effectively delaying the need to decide his allegiance until late March 1996.

That advice, it would later be determined, was incorrect.

* * *

Gloucester off-spinner Martyn Ball was 25 and keen for some social fun with the effervescent new Aussie lad whom he now called a teammate.

"The (Gloucestershire bosses) said, 'Right, we've got this guy coming over, he's 19-20, 'Bally', you can take him under your wing, show him the ropes, room with him'," Ball says. "But we soon realised this lad wasn't some naïve kid, he was already very streetwise, so we did have some fun – a few pints, plenty of laughs.

"The Australian sledging and banter was a bit more brutal than maybe us white-collared Englishmen (delivered), and maybe some of our off-the-cuff comments had a bit more of the English humour that made 'Roy' (Symonds) sit and work it out a couple of times. But, without being rude, he didn't give a shit."

Adds Hancock: "He loved the dressing room. Loved the banter. He could take it, he could give it out – he was totally at home with all that."

Around Bristol, several of the Gloucester lads had memberships at the Marriott Royal Hotel, and Symonds made a happy habit of tagging along to take advantage of the pool, jacuzzi and other facilities the county couldn't provide at the time. At other times he would disappear for a few days' fly fishing. When he returned, he would invariably set the standard at training, particularly in fielding drills.

"His general athleticism and strength, and his ability to do everything" stood out to Matt Windows, another long-term Gloucestershire batter of the time.

"From a fielding sense, he changed the dial for Gloucester – we became through those years and beyond a very athletic fielding side, and he brought a huge amount of that dynamism," Windows adds. "He invented concepts like forward dives to the boundary, which really were the catalyst for what these kids do nowadays. He was certainly revolutionary."

Alleyne and Hancock both recall a session where Symonds dove across the dewy turf to make another extraordinary stop, and when he stood, imprinted in grass stains on his white t-shirt was the outline of a rippling six pack.

"It was amazing," laughs Alleyne. "But just his lateral movement was incredible."

Ball meanwhile, compares Symonds in the field favourably with South African great Jonty Rhodes, who played at Gloucester in 2003.

"Yeah, Jonty was a great fielder," Ball says, "but there was only one guy I'd have wanted out on the pitch with me, and that was 'Simmo'."

Symonds' aggressive approach to fielding (former Gloucester captain Jack Russell once recalled him running out three Lancashire batters in a single session at Cheltenham) was illustrative of the way he tackled the game more broadly. Windows says the phrase "I'll have a crack at this" was something of a mantra for the Australian, and the manner in which he did so proved influential at the club.

"In English cricket, he seemed a little bit ahead of his time," Ball says. "The English coaches of the time placed their emphasis on the value of your wicket: You don't give your wicket away.

"Simmo was completely the opposite. From the first few training sessions, he liked to strike the ball, and as soon as you bowled a couple of good deliveries to put him under pressure, his response was: How far can I hit the next ball? It was a completely different mindset.

"The likes of Matt Windows, Tim Hancock – these guys were around 22, and they'd been held back by the shackles of where English cricket was at the time – all that, 'don't do this, don't do that'. Whereas Simmo's mentality was: Hang on, can I do this? Can I do that? What happens if I do this, or do that?

"For us, he rewrote all of that."

* * *

Ken Symonds made his way to the nets at the County Ground in Bristol with his son. He delivered a pep talk and took him through some of their favourite drills. After a blazing start to the season, Symonds' form had dipped.

"I was feeling out of sorts," he later wrote in Roy: Going for Broke, "in part due to the furore over my eligibility."

Gloucester had flown Symonds' parents, Ken and Barbara, over for a visit. Their presence, allied with Ken's intimate knowledge of Andrew's game, was timely. Gooch's terse words had set the wheels in motion and the talk of Symonds' allegiance seemed to be on everyone's lips, barring – publicly at least – those of the man himself.

"No comment," was all Symonds had offered when asked about the matter.

Behind closed doors however, in the safe haven of the Gloucestershire changeroom, it was different, even if a couple of well-meaning teammates, including captain Russell, were gently looking to persuade him to throw his lot in with the country of his birth.

"To be honest, I was hoping to kind of convince him to choose England," smiles Alleyne. "But he was 100 per cent Australia. If you suggested anything else, he would look quizzically at you, like: What are you talking about? I don't think he gave it a second thought."

A number of Symonds' teammates had also grown protective of their young star.

"There was a lot of stick flying around," recalls Hancock. "At the time it wasn't as normal to have the dual passport players, and if we did have them, they weren't so eye-catchingly good that they came straight into (England team) reckoning.

"When you're in a dressing room, there is a sort of loyalty to the people you're with. He was our friend, and we didn't like the way he was being singled out, because there were a few people who had grown up in Australia and come over because they had a passport, and not much was said, so it was all a bit hypocritical."

Recalls Ball: "We felt every team was jealous that we had this young guy who could play for England … but we knew in the changeroom, (where) he wasn't shy to say: 'I'm playing for Australia, mate – it won't be long, and I'll be in that Australian team. I ain't playing for you Poms (laughs)'."

Graham Gooch was unimpressed with how he felt the English County system was being used by some players // Getty

The Gooch affair came to a head in Cheltenham on July 28. Coming to the middle at 4-216, Symonds' first run was his 1,000th in first-class cricket, but it was just note one in a spectacular 132-minute show.

"It was a superb innings, embroidered with immensely powerful, cleanly struck shots of rich variety and enhanced by swift running," wrote Stephen Bierley for the Guardian. "There are few half-measures about Symonds … this was reckoned to be the best of his three centuries for the county."

Symonds struck 18 fours and four sixes in his 123no from 111 balls, running out of partners with the score at 400. In reply, Essex opener Gooch toiled for almost as long as Symonds before he was caught off Ball for 22, at which point the simmering tensions boiled over.

"You've got this 20-year-old kid telling the captain of English cricket where to go," smiles Ball. "He was in Goochy's face, and he didn't take a step back."

Adds Srinath: "I remember Andrew running up to him and giving a mouthful. That was the gutsy part of Symonds, he ran up to him and said a few things … I was stunned to see a player who had a chance of playing for England (do that), but he's so clear with what he wants that he's not bothered."

Symonds later labelled the verbal exchange "all part and parcel" of the contest but, as he detailed it, matters became more unsavoury when Gooch "spat in my direction as he walked off".

"I let it go," he wrote. "He didn't spit on me and I didn't want it to blow up."

To seal a knockout win over his veteran English rival, Symonds made a second-innings 57 as Gloucestershire chased down 285 on the final afternoon.

For the Australian, it was the beginning of a mid-season stretch through which he averaged 58 while striking at 88. For his team, it was about more than numbers.

"See, the world was not global yet," explains Srinath. "So the Aussie culture, and the way they go about believing in themselves and how to play cricket hard – aggressive – these are some of the things I picked up from him.

"I was much senior to him (in age), but there's nothing wrong in picking the good stuff from people around us. I always admired his commitment. He gave 200 per cent on the field, and he wouldn't give an inch to anyone."

* * *

Paul Sussex, captain of Abergavenny Cricket Club's first team in that 1995 summer, is now the club's archivist, and a life member. He was at the Pen-y-Pound Ground in south-east Wales across four days 30 years ago when Symonds made it rain cricket balls.

"The balls he was hitting were bouncing off the roofs and landing in people's gardens, and sometimes hitting the roof and coming back and landing in the brook," Sussex says. "The umpires were running out with new balls left, right and centre."

Up to August 1995, Glamorgan had hosted 11 first-class matches and a couple of List A fixtures at the postage stamp-sized venue, dating back to 1981, as part of the 'festival cricket' rounds the County Championships held each year. The ground itself, set in the Welsh town of Abergavenny, is unique in its history – going all the way back to 1834 – as well as its shape.

"We've got the pavilion at the one side, we've got this brook running down the other side, and we've got a bowling green that cuts off one of the corners on the drive into the ground," explains Sussex. "It's not an oval, it's not a square – I don't know what geometry you'd use to describe it, really."

The unique shape of the Pen-y-Pound ground at Abergavenny is best seen from the air // Abergavenny CC

The match, which began on August 23, was the 20th of Symonds' first-class career. After Glamorgan won the toss and made 334, Gloucester's reply got off to a shaky start. Midway through day two, they were 5-79, with two new batters at the crease. One was Williams, and the other was Symonds.

"Traditionally (Pen-y-Pound) has been a bit of a bowlers' graveyard," says former England rep Steve Watkin, who opened the bowling for Glamorgan in that match, and had collected a couple of wickets to that point. "But we'd done quite well, gotten ourselves on top."

Symonds later recalled receiving from his opponents "a few dirty looks and harsh words" relating to his eligibility drama, but more pertinently, he felt the innings was "a demo version of how I should play – because I got set first".

Watching alongside his teammates, having been the most recent batter dismissed, was Alleyne, Gloucester's captain in the absence of Russell.

"Glamorgan didn't have a lot of firepower, but they were known to be very accurate and reliable, and a lot of us used to grovel around at the crease trying to work the ball around," he says. "(Symonds) took a different approach. He said, 'I'm taking it on'.

"And I remember Steve Watkin – a real classic English bowler who always landed it on a sixpence – (Symonds) just walked at him, and hit him out of the park. That set the tone for the rest of his innings."

Cue fireworks. Surveying the very short boundaries – particularly those straight – the right-handed Symonds launched his counterattack.

"He was a confident boy," Williams says. "He'd walk down at the end of an over and say to me: 'Just give me the strike – I'll take these boys on'. And then all of a sudden you see balls flying out of Abergavenny.

"I was happy just sitting on the bat handle, watching. Then I'd squirt one and put him back on strike. Let the maestro get on with it, really.

"It was quite a big crowd, and they're on top of you at Abergavenny, so when the ball was flying around the park, it really was an amazing atmosphere."

Symonds' didn't discriminate with his six hitting but he did take a particular liking to off-spinner Robert Croft. Aged 25, and just 12 months away from an England Test debut, Croft had played for a TCCB XI against the touring 'Young Australia', dismissing Ricky Ponting and Stuart Law amid a haul of 5-58.

He was also a contemporary, old friend and rival of Gloucester's off-spinner, Ball, who therefore relished watching the savaging unfold.

"I watched every ball with a big smile on my face," he laughs. "Me and 'Crofty', we're mates – known each other from 15, 16. He was a super player, and it was lovely watching him just getting whacked into this tennis court at the back of the ground.

"Later he was moaning that the ground was too small, but we said to him, 'Crofty, that would've been into the top tier at The Oval'. He just absolutely butchered them."

The highly-regarded off-spinner Robert Croft was treated with contempt by Symonds // Getty

Symonds and Williams piled on 213 in 41 overs. As the stand-in gloveman contributed 52, his younger counterpart went berserk, bringing up his fourth century of the County season from just 88 deliveries, with six sixes and 12 fours.

"We were there sitting at the Pavilion End, enjoying his game," Srinath says. "He just toyed around with the Glamorgan bowlers, there were sixes going everywhere."

And on it went. After Williams was dismissed, Ball followed quickly, then Srinath emerged as an unlikely ally in the carnage, clubbing three sixes of his own.

"He just lifted the momentum of the side so much," reflects the 55-year-old, now an ICC match referee. "It's so contagious … the confidence of your teammate batting like that makes you confident to go and do the same.

"But the number of sixes he was hitting, well, it became a joke by the end of the day, because we lost so many balls … in the end they got a couple of boys to spot where the ball was going, otherwise the game could have come to an early end (laughs)."

Bereft of ideas, Glamorgan resorted to hope – and playing the odds that Symonds' high-risk approach would eventually cost him his wicket.

"We thought he'd hit one up in the air," Watkin says. "And of course we put fielders out, but he just kept clearing them. The size of the ground certainly helped."

Sussex remembers a strong crowd building at Pen-y-Pound as word around town spread that something special was unfolding.

"They played (County matches) there consistently from '81, and we hadn't seen that many sixes," he says. "It was just phenomenal. There'd have been 3,500 in there by then, and the place was buzzing."

Stumps was the only way to temporarily halt the Symonds spectacle. By then he was 197, Srinath was 33, and Gloucestershire were 7-373, leading by 39.

Thirteen sixes had been pumped into the crowd from Symonds' blade alone, and the world record of 15 in a single first-class innings – achieved by New Zealander John Reid at Wellington in January 1963 – was well within his sights.

The following morning, Srinath and Kamran Sheeraz both departed before Symonds could add to his sixes tally. It was No.11 Vyv Pike – in what would be his last first-class match – who stuck solid for 30 minutes. It proved time enough.

"Steve Watkin was a really good English seamer – just top of off (stump), you know, just bang," recalls Hancock. "For me, that was always a challenge, playing against that bloke. But 'Simmo' was just on a different level – he was running up the wicket and just planting this chap over the top."

Three times that morning in fact, including two in consecutive balls. The first of those was effectively one-handed as Symonds' bottom hand came off his bat, and the second was number 16 – world record.

"I think he hit me for five sixes and I knew I remembered one of them for a reason," laughs Watkin. "He hit a few over my head but there's a house on one corner of the ground, and he hit me into the house – I think that was the one for the world record."

Reporting from the venue at the time, Wisden's Matthew Engel detailed the world record six landing "on a tennis court about 20 feet over the boundary". Whatever the case, a new mark had been set. Pyke was out soon after, Gloucester led by 127, and all told, Symonds had hit 254no from 206 deliveries, with 16 sixes and 22 fours.

"In the process," added Engel, "he moved the simmering controversy over his nationality very close to boiling point."

Interviewed at stumps that day, Symonds was asked about the possibility of being selected the following Tuesday week in the England A squad for an upcoming tour of Pakistan. According to Engel, a TCCB official had said it was "time to call his bluff" regarding his allegiance.

"I'll worry about that," Symonds replied, "when the day comes."

Symonds leaves the field unbeaten on 254, having hammered a world record 16 sixes // Abergavenny CC

Before that of course, there was a game to win. After Glamorgan replied impressively with the bat by posting 471 (Srinath took a career-best 9-76 to tally 13 for the match), Gloucester were left needing 345 in 77 overs.

The sense was that if they were any chance, the chase would need to be built around Symonds. Elevated to No.5, he came in at 3-83 and picked up where he left off, clubbing the Glamorgan attack to all parts.

"I passed him as I was coming off and I said something like, 'It's just doing a little bit, have a little look'," laughs Hancock. "But an hour later I've got my feet up again, just watching the spectacle."

Second time around, Symonds' onslaught lasted only 69 minutes, during which he hit 76 from 65 balls. Four more sixes took his match tally to 20. It was another world record, this time breaking a mark that had stood since 1959. And it was scant consolation, but Watkin finally had his man.

"I do remember getting him out (lbw) in the second innings," he smiles. "I think at that point he'd hit 330 runs along with his 20 sixes."

Adds Alleyne: "At the time, you're not aware of world records, but in the context of the game it was just stunning. These were times when people just didn't bat like that in Championship cricket."

Symonds was out with the score at 4-204 and Gloucester still 141 short of their target. They continued chasing the win until the contest swung toward the hosts, leaving their last-wicket pair to hang on for a draw in the closing stages.

The young star was honoured after the match by Abergavenny CC chairman Brian Mayers and president Brian Shackleton, and presented with his player-of-the-match award after making the highest first-class score at Pen-y-Pound. Afterward, Gloucester assistant coach Paul Romaines marvelled at not only Symonds' ability, but his resolve.

"He's been told to go back to Australia, sworn at, even spat at," Romaines said. "Nothing's fazed him. He's a brilliant bloke, and so mature."

Symonds is presented with the Player of the Match award // Abergavenny CC

While not bearing witness to that night's frivolities, Srinath is confident his teammates would have enjoyed themselves in town.

"The Saturday night used to be a big night for these guys, because on the Sunday we had a 40-over game that wouldn't start until four o'clock," he smiles.

"(Symonds) was extremely naughty – jovial – and I would say a typical Aussie teenager. He probably could have got away with murder that night because he'd performed so well (laughs)."

The next day's 40-over match took place 20 minutes away at Ebbw Vale, another small Welsh town. The details of Gloucestershire's six-wicket win have been largely confined to the history books but a quick look at the scorecard shows the most notable performance again coming from Symonds who, hungover or otherwise, blasted 69 from 35 balls to dominate a run chase of 154. Another seven sixes meant he had tallied 27 against the hapless Glamorgan bowlers across four days and three innings, while amassing 399 runs.

Reflecting on those five days in Wales, and particularly Symonds' 254no, Srinath sums up the sentiment of the time.

"He had already shown that he could destroy an opponent," he says. "But this was a very clear message he was up for big things in life."

* * *

On September 5, Symonds was indeed named in the England A squad for the upcoming tour of Pakistan. His potential selection had been a point of conjecture until the 11th hour, with ongoing uncertainty over his eligibility. Ultimately, after conversations between the TCCB and the ICC, some clarity on the issue was gained: Symonds was free to represent England, because the rule stating a player could not represent one country if he had played for another at Under-19 level or above in the previous two years had only been introduced in October 1994, and could not be applied retrospectively (Symonds had played Australia U19s in March 1994).

The 20-year-old prevaricated, refusing to comment publicly on his selection. A few days after the squad announcement, he was named Young Cricketer of the Year at the Cricket Writers Club annual dinner in London. It was, ironically, an award open to Englishmen only. In his acceptance speech, he said as little as possible. By then, England's press was basking in the bureaucratic shambles the situation had become.

"Andrew Symonds' presence in the 15-man A team party to Pakistan is a clear case of fair dinkum, mate, you could have knocked me down with a corked hat," wrote Martin Johnson in The Independent. "The Birmingham-born Symonds has twice stated a preference for Australia … has yet to RSVP to England's invitation, and, having yesterday been described by his Gloucestershire secretary as 'thoroughly confused', may yet decline."

Less than a week later, Symonds did exactly that. His 62-word statement drew yet more headlines in English cricket.

"I have informed the England selectors that I am unable to accept their invitation to join the A team tour to Pakistan," it read. "I recognise it is an honour to be selected but, having carefully considered my long-standing commitment to the Queensland Cricket Association, my club on the Gold Coast and my family, I have decided to return to Australia for the winter."

England chairman of selectors Illingworth immediately went on the offensive, saying he would not pick Symonds again. As David Hopps in the Guardian detailed, Illingworth also called for Symonds "to be classified as an overseas player by an immediate tightening of the registration rules governing English first-class cricket".

More sympathetically, Illingworth added: "I'm a bit disappointed he's turned us down because he's a great talent. But he's made a decision of the heart – and that's the decision he should make. We have forced the issue; that's it now, it's finished. But the whole issue of registrations has to be sorted out by the International Cricket Council. Symonds signed a contract at the start of the summer saying he was available for England, and that has been proved now to have been just a bit of paper."

(L-R) England selector David Graveney, selection chair Ray Illingworth and Test captain Mike Atherton, August 1995 // Getty

In reality though, the Symonds saga was far from settled. Yes, he had been emphatic about his future behind closed doors, and even let slip in a 1994-95 QCA pre-season questionnaire that his ambition in 10 years' time was to be "playing cricket for Australia". But in the media, he was still hedging his bets, with an understanding of both the cricketing education and lucrative possibilities that awaited him in County cricket. In an interview in the Today newspaper, he said he had been "put in an impossible position".

"I turned down the Pakistan invitation only to give myself time," he added. "That is not to say if England were to approach me again in the future that I would not make a difficult decision.

"When the time is right, I will make a firm commitment to either Australia or England. I am keeping my options open to think about what is best for my future as a professional cricketer."

Meanwhile, for the high-flying Australian team, which had four months earlier toppled the West Indies in the Caribbean to become the unofficial Test world champions, the matter was little more than peripheral.

"I won't be losing any sleep over England picking Symonds," said national skipper Mark Taylor when asked about the matter. "If he wants to play for them, then good luck to him. He looks a good batsman, but we have plenty of good young batsmen who cannot get into our Test side."

Three months later, Australia's selectors returned serve on their England counterparts, naming Symonds in their preliminary 20-man squad for the 1996 World Cup. Yet when he missed the cut, and the TCCB found no legal way to preclude UK-born players from participating in the County Championship as locals, the soap opera continued.

A month after Australia lost the World Cup final to Sri Lanka in Lahore, Symonds was putting pen to paper on a three-year deal with Gloucestershire. According to many in the UK press, as well as Gloucestershire's chief executive Philip August, the terms of the contract meant the matter was finally decided.

"Symonds's new contract includes a stringent clause insisted upon by the Test and County Cricket Board and Cricketers' Association that he will be available to play for England in Test matches if selected," wrote David Foot in the Guardian.

"Yesterday the implications of his registration and the fact that he would now be English-qualified were made 'absolutely clear to him', in August's words. August added that the new contract showed 'a very big increase' on Symonds's wages last season."

A week later, August was even more emphatic in the same newspaper: "He has signed the declaration that he will play for England if selected. That is the end of it. Even if he won't tell you himself, I know he is bursting to play for England."

Symonds poses during Gloucestershire's photocall in April 1996 // Getty

The plot thickened through May, as Symonds stroked a majestic 120no from 138 balls against the touring Indians, whose attack included his former teammate Srinath as well as leg-spin sensation Anil Kumble.

"Everybody was struggling to play Anil, and for the first time I saw someone really play Anil well," Srinath remembers. "(Symonds) was a thinking cricketer, and he single-handedly managed that innings for his team. It was a brilliant hundred."

The performance shifted the spotlight back on both Symonds and the England selectors, who now seemed caught in a web they had spun: could Illingworth – and by extension his fellow selectors – go back on their word and pick him again?

"I know how I felt last year and so far my feelings have not changed," Illingworth had said three weeks earlier. Writing during a game between Gloucester and Somerset in The Independent on May 19, a week after the India game, Stephen Fay put it like this: "Symonds … is bound to play Test cricket sooner rather than later; he might prefer to play for Australia … but he is more likely to be selected for England.

"You feel sorry for him," he added. "Since he is eligible for both, he must be waiting for the selectors to make up his mind for him. This does not mean he is a mercenary, more that he is the victim of a confused identity. He was one of the players that (England selector) David Graveney watched during the first two days of the game, but the view in the Gloucester dressing room is that the England selectors are not yet ready to ask him to play."

As the English summer rolled to its conclusion, that view proved accurate. Symonds returned to Australia without another invitation to join England's national fold, and that November, in his ninth Shield match, he scored his maiden hundred in the competition – a rollicking 111 from 99 balls against NSW at the SCG.

Symonds in action for the PM's XI against West Indies, December 1996 // Getty

Then, on December 11, he was picked to play for Australia A against West Indies. Though there was yet another unlikely stay of execution when he was named 12th man, Symonds subsequently debuted for Australia A on December 28 against Pakistan in Sydney. With that, his three-year deal with Gloucestershire was effectively voided, though his legacy at the county was assured.

"He made us, as a team, look at things completely differently," Ball says. "Come 1999, Gloucester were just about invincible at one-day cricket for a while there – we won everything. OK, not with 'Simmo', but I think he was instrumental in shaping people's mindsets in how we played cricket … and then I think we as a team changed how the rest of the counties looked at cricket come three or four years later. His impact was unbelievable."

Symonds returned to the County Championship with Kent from 1999-2004, and with Lancashire in 2005. By then he was a coveted overseas signing, having long pledged his allegiance to the green and gold.

"Playing sport for your country was what I'd always wanted to do, and my country was Australia," he later wrote. "I just happened to be born in England."

Click here to read article