first game. Overview of cricket career Symonds was an aggressive right-handed batsman who could also bowl off spin or medium pace, making him a good all-rounder. He was an exceptional fielder, with a report prepared by Cricinfo in late 2005 showing that since the 1999 Cricket World Cup, he had effected the fifth equal most run-outs in One Day International (ODI) cricket of any fieldsman, with the fourth highest success rate, with Ricky Ponting rating him the best fielder he had seen, and a better and more versatile one than Herschelle Gibbs and Jonty Rhodes because Symonds was taller than them, giving him better defensive coverage range and had greater throw power outside the circle. He was very agile for his size and weight (medium-heavy build; 187 cm tall), had excellent reflexes, was able to take catches well and had a powerful and accurate throwing arm. His nickname was Roy, shortened from the name Leroy, after a coach from early in his career believed he resembled local Brisbane basketball player Leroy Loggins. He was an AIS Australian Cricket Academy scholarship holder in 1994. In 1995, after playing in his first season for English county Gloucestershire, Symonds won the Cricket Writer's Club Young Cricketer of the Year award. Shortly afterwards Symonds was selected as part of the England A team that was to tour Pakistan in the winter; however, he decided not to go, instead choosing to pursue an international career for Australia. His place on the tour was later taken by Middlesex player Jason Pooley. Domestic cricket Australian state cricket Symonds scored more than 5,000 runs and took more than 100 wickets for the Queensland state team. He scored 113 and took four wickets in a losing cause in the final of the 1998–99 Sheffield Shield season, and was named man of the match in the 2002 Pura Cup final after scoring 123 runs and taking six wickets. English counties Symonds played for four English counties during his career—Gloucestershire, Kent, Lancashire and Surrey. His first appearance for an English county was with Gloucestershire. Initially he was considered an England-qualified player, however, following his first season of county cricket in 1995 he declared that his allegiances lay with Australia when he chose not to tour Pakistan with the England A team. In August 1995, he hit a record 16 sixes in his unbeaten 254 against Glamorgan at Abergavenny. In doing so,