Adam Gilchrist revealed that the legendary Shane Warne had made an offer to Andrew Symonds to join London Spirits’ coaching staff at The Hundred, not long before both champion cricketers passed away.
It has been a difficult few months for the cricketing world, with the tragic demise of three former Australian stalwarts Rod Marsh, Shane Warne and Andrew Symonds within a span of three months. Tributes have been pouring for Symonds, one of Australia’s most dynamic cricketers, who passed away in a car accident on Saturday, May 14.
More than his achievements on the field, Symonds’ will always be remembered for his camaraderie with his friends and teammates and his larger than life personality. Adam Gilchrist, his long-time teammate, revealed a gripping tale involving Symonds and the King of Spin Warne, who’d made an offer for the all-rounder to join London Spirits’ coaching staff at The Hundred.
Warne wished to have Symonds and former Victorian wicketkeeper Darren Berry on board as assistants ahead of the second edition of the competition. The fascinating part of the story was that Warne had planned to pay Symonds from his own pocket, as the club didn’t have enough budget for another member in the coaching setup.
“I spent the night with Roy at Warnie’s big farewell — and the next morning with Roy, which was typically the case,” Gilchrist told the Triple M Rush Hour with JB and Billy. “He was so upset at the loss of Warnie. Everyone was and stunned.
“But a little thing that Roy was telling me just last week — Warnie had been speaking about getting him over to be an assistant coach at the London Spirit in The Hundred competition over there in England.
“And it was only a couple of weeks ago that Roy found out there was no budget put aside for him. There was nothing documented in London Spirit’s set-up. Warnie was doing that on his own accord and was going to pay Roy the wage that he was going to get for being over there and Roy couldn’t believe that.”
Think of your most loyal, fun, loving friend who would do anything for you. That’s Roy. 💔😞
— Adam Gilchrist (@gilly381) May 15, 2022
Gilchrist couldn’t stop himself from reminiscing the relationship Symonds established with people around him, highlighting his humility and sense of humour as standout traits.
“That sense of friendship and mateship was everything that Roy built his whole life around, of trust and loyalty,” he added. “Here we are a few days later after him relaying that story to me, he’s disappeared.
“He was loyal to a fault, he really was.
“I spent yesterday talking with mates, doing a few interviews, reflecting — and very rarely did it come back to his sporting prowess. It was just about him and his warmth and his humility and he just cared for everyone else. Geez he made you laugh. He was just an absolute crackerjack, naturally funny bloke where he didn’t even know he was doing it half the time.”
Interestingly, Symonds had himself opened up on the offer made by Warne after the latter’s sudden passing away in March.
“My friendship with Shane just grew and grew over the years and he was so generous to me,” he had told Fox Sports. “I’ve been through some difficult periods and I’d ring him and if he didn’t take the call he’d ring me straight back.
“I’ve done quite a bit of (commentary) work with him over the last three years and just recently he rang me – probably 10 days (before Warne died) and I was at home and I was getting ready to go fishing actually. And he said, ‘I’ve got some good news for you, Roy. Remember how we talked about this coaching thing for the London Spirit?’ He said, ‘I’ve got you the job’.
“And I was really looking forward to going to coach with Shane Warne. No. 1 to see how he went about it and then obviously to learn.
“He said, ‘Do you want to dip your toe into the water with coaching? You seem to really know the game quite well and you describe things to me quite well so would you like to give it a go?’
“So off the back of that, that opportunity arose and unfortunately I won’t get to live that with him.”
Symonds represented Australia in 26 Tests, 198 ODIs and 14 T20Is, and was a key member during their enviable unbeaten run in the 2003 and 2007 World Cups.
