We didn't grow up saying `I want to play cricket for South Africa' because there was no chance This has come late to me and Mac. That's maybe why we're more hungry than some of the young guys. Every game is a bonus."And in the uncomplicated philosophy of the high veld, every game is there to be won. Fitting too that a native of Kimberley, famously besieged during the Boer War, should be remembered in the record books for a heroic rearguard action. In the first Test against Pakistan in Johannesburg, Symcox and Mark Boucher, the oldest and youngest members of the side, combined to put on 195, a record stand for the ninth wicket. In making 108 (off 157 balls), Symcox became only the third player in Test history to score a century batting at No 10, an historic feat lent further prominence by a letter from Swansea which reached Symcox in Worcester last week.
The other two, the correspondent wrote, were recognised batsmen masquerading as No 10s. Simmo, as he openly admits, is the genuine article."I'd worked on my batting because I'd become more confident in my bowling, but if I hadn't made 81 on the tour of Pakistan, I probably wouldn't have reached that century," Symcox said. "I was so mad at getting out that time I was determined not to mess it up next time. I came in at 166 for 8 and was batting to survive, which helped. My job was to help Mark along, so you do that, then you look up and you've reached fifty." Then 77 not out overnight, on to the world record and finally his first Test century, acknowledged with a grin as broad as the plains and a wave of his bat The Pakistanis were not so amused Most Symcox innings have a subtext. Subjected to the South African's famed chatline, the Pakistanis' discipline crumbled.
Shoaib Akhtar bounced, Symcox flexed his jackhammer forearms, the score mounted."I thrive on that stuff. It gets me going, trying to get under a player's skin, my team-mates know it. In provincial cricket, everyone keeps quiet because they know I love it." A love-hate relationship with the Aussie crowds ended in something akin to mutual respect and a beer or two with Steve Waugh, another adept sledger. Waugh and Symcox tried to broker a truce between Daryll Cullinan and Shane Warne, sworn enemies for years. Warne won the battle on the scorecard, but not in Symcox's eyes. "I would like to think that in 30 years' time I can go and have a drink with everyone I've played against Warney won't be able to do that. If you allow what happens on the field to dictate your personal life, you're in for a miserable life after cricket."The aftermath of Symcox's century was not so edifying.
