I write this tribute, less than three hours after Andrew Symonds was ‘dismissed.’  It was an honour that I never savoured on the cricket field, dismissing him that is, despite playing against him a dozen times perhaps in Brisbane club cricket.

Not knowing the circumstances of his death, I can safely attest that Symo lived life in probably the same way as he confronted his last moments. I recall talking to him at an airport lounge a few years ago and recounting a particularly scary encounter I had with a lion in Africa in my job as a wildlife ranger.