The knock that launched a superb career
Remember when: Roy arrives
With 143 days until the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, cricket.com.au looks back at a memorable performance in the 2003 tournament.
With Australia’s World Cup defence already rocked by Shane Warne’s diuretics scandal, a shift in momentum was dramatically needed.
Andrew Symonds provided it, and how.
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His selection in the squad – let alone the starting XI – the subject of intense speculation after just 69 runs in his previous seven innings, Symonds loomed as the unlikeliest hero in Australia’s batting line-up.
Yet when the score slipped to 4-86, he strode to the crease and set about taking control.
Some 34 overs later, he was still there, having guided Australia to a mammoth 8-310 with the innings he will forever be remembered for: 143 not out from 125 balls, including 18 fours and two sixes.
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Pakistan’s much-vaunted attack of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, and Shahid Afridi had been cut to ribbons, and the Australians were on their way to an undefeated World Cup triumph.
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