Patrick Leonard Symcox (born 14 April 1960) is a former South African international
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
er. He played 20
Test matches and 80
One Day International
A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...
s in the 1990s.
[Pat Symcox]
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2020-09-28.
CricInfo
ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...
. Retrieved 2020-09-28.
International career
Symcox was a
right-arm off-spin bowler and was known for his powerful hitting down the order and has a
Test century to his name, scored against
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
. Symcox is co-holder of the highest ever ninth-wicket
partnership
A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments o ...
of 195 runs. Symcox retired in 1998. His son,
Russel, like his father, used to play provincial cricket for the Natal
Dolphins
A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (t ...
. His father Rodger, also played provincial cricket for Griqualand West and the Symcox family are one of ten families in South Africa to have seen three generations play first-class cricket.
During an
ODI against
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
at the
SCG in late-1997, play was stopped after the crowd pelted Symcox with projectiles, including an entire chicken.
After cricket
He has commentated for
Supersport and
ESPN Star Sports
Fox Sports (formerly ESPN Star Sports) was a pan-Asian pay television network broadcasting in Asia, operated by Fox Networks Group Asia Pacific, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company (Southeast Asia) Pte. Ltd. It also oversaw a version of Sta ...
on cricket around the world.
Symcox now owns the REMAX property franchise on the South Coast of
Kwa-Zulu Natal
KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...
in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
known as RE/MAX Coast & Country which is active in the residential and commercial property sector.
He is also a popular after-dinner speaker and plays
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
off a single figure handicap. Known as one of the tough men of the 90's Protea cricket team, he played under
Kepler Wessels
Kepler Christoffel Wessels (born 14 September 1957) is a South African-Australian cricket commentator and former cricketer who captained South Africa after playing 24 Tests for Australia. Since retiring he has been a lawn bowls competitor.
He ...
and
Hansie Cronje
Wessel Johannes "Hansie" Cronje (25 September 1969 – 1 June 2002) was a South African international cricketer and captain of the South African national cricket team in the 1990s. A right-handed all-rounder, as captain Cronje led his team to vi ...
. Prior to his cricketing career, Symcox also managed private hospitals and worked for Masters International acting as a managing agent for many of the top sportsmen of South Africa.
In his spare time his hobbies include angling.
References
1960 births
Living people
Griqualand West cricketers
KwaZulu-Natal cricketers
Northerns cricketers
South Africa One Day International cricketers
South Africa Test cricketers
South African cricketers
South African cricket commentators
South African cricket coaches
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