Matthew Mott reveals how Andrew “Roy” Symonds brought a room to tears

In a wide-ranging interview, Australian women’s cricket coach Matthew Mott has opened up about his friendship with Andrew Symonds and his own novel journey.

Matthew Mott wanted to be a cricket coach from his mid-teens but never suspected he would end up in charge the Australian women’s team. He talks to Robert Craddock about his cricket journey ahead of the T20 Women’s World Cup:

You grew up with Symonds, cricket’s great enigma. What did you make of him?

Enigma is the right word for him. He is a very kind person and a loyal mate to a lot of people. I only saw him not long ago because unfortunately his father Ken passed away which was very sad. You say enigma and he actually did a tribute to his father in a song. I am not sure how many equalisers he had but it came across really well. He is a man of many talents. A lot of people enjoyed playing with him.

So he sang a song they played at the funeral?

Yes. I asked him if he was going to speak and he said, “I don’t think I could do that’’, but he put a song together and he played it and it brought everyone to tears. It was heartfelt and very Roy.

One of your most memorable achievements in cricket was a partnership of 446 with Symonds for Gold Coast in the under-19s. What do you recall of that?

It was a strange day. We didn’t really expect a lot. We were playing Souths Under 19s. I remember Symmo hit the first ball for six. We kept challenging each other and there were six flying everywhere. Billy Pippen, who was a legend of the club, came out and said, “I think you two might have had enough’’, and we walked off and did not realise we had added 446.

Matthew Mott and Andrew Symonds with the Sheffield Shield in 1997

What is the difference between coaching men’s and women’s teams?

I think there are more similarities than differences. This team has really grown a lot in the last few years and professionalism has played a part in that. I think initially being involved I had to be mindful if what I said in a group forum but I think we have got to a point now where it is a bit more like a traditional male dressing room where people will fall out in a bit more stronger terminology.

You once said a difference was that when you offer up a criticism in a men’s dressing room they think you are talking about the person next to them but the women will assume you are talking about them. True?

That’s 100 per cent true. I think we have got better but there have been some lessons learnt with things you think will go down all right and you will have two or three (women’s) players come up and apologising. And it is usually the ones who did not need to apologise. In the male dressing room they will think you are talking about that idiot sitting beside them who stuffed up.

How did you get into coaching?

I did my level one when I was 16 so I always thought coaching might be something one day, certainly not at this level but maybe local coaching. Phys Ed teaching was a goal at one stage but my TE score put paid to that because I did not quite get there. I was a bit lucky when I finished playing because Dave Gilbert who I had known from QAS days rang and offered me the chance to play and coach the NSW second XI.

You had the reputation for being a hard worker and a team man. What did you make of yourself as a player?

I think they say you are hard working when you lacked talent! I always copped that one. I did work hard but I was a battler as a player who tried to get the best out of myself. I only really strung two or three good seasons out of the 10 I played so that was frustrating. But there was a lot of good players around at that stage. I wasn’t missing out to dummies.

Some of your players grew up playing against boys but now there are pathways for girls to play each other. The old way seemed to help them though didn’t it?

The analogy I have is that it is a bit like country boys playing against men early. It builds resilience. It toughens them up. I think it is great we have all girls teams coming in but I would still like to see them playing against the boys if they are good enough because you can notice, especially with the batters, which ones played against men. They are not frightened and they get in behind the line. In our practices we get some young male bowlers in to stretch them a bit and they are probably bowling 125kph.

Australian coach Matthew Mott looks on during the ODI Tri-Series Cricket match between Australia and India at Junction Oval in Melbourne, Saturday February 8, 2020. Picture: AAP

Are there any skills the women have which should be the envy of male players?

When male players come and watch us they marvel at Meg Lanning’s ability to carve the ball behind point when there is not a lot of pace on the ball. That is a real skill. Ellyse Perry’s technique is marvelled at. It is as pure as you could get for Test cricket and if I was a young boy I would be watching her. Beth Mooney is outstanding at accessing different parts of the ground.

What area of the women’s cricket has improved most over the past few years?

It is not long ago we were in awe of the West Indies in the World Cup we played over there is that they were such big strong athletes. I guess we really targeted that in our programs. I remember (physiotherapist) Pat Farhart who has been in India for a few years was in awe of the physicality of our team in the field compared to when he left Australia.

Where do you see the women’s game going, format wise?

I still think T20 is big driver. In all our strategies behind the scenes T20 is the one which hooks players in. It is a bit like the men’s game. The players love playing Test cricket but unfortunately it is not going to drive the game and for countries like Thailand and PNG it has to be T20 to take the game forward.

Originally published as Matthew Mott reveals how Andrew “Roy” Symonds brought a room to tears