When Dhoni made 50th birthday of a Central England truck driver special

Birmingham: Andrew Symes, a truck driver from the industrial town of Stoke on Trent in Central England, has always loved his cricket. And cricket loved him back in the most beautiful manner that he could have ever envisaged.

Back in 2014 during India's tour of England, erstwhile Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni presented him with a Indian ODI team jersey after finding out it was his 50th birthday.

And it was at this very Edgbaston ground where he was volunteering during an ODI game when Dhoni made his 'Red Letter Day' even more special.

He carried his prized possession presented by the great 'MSD' to the Edgbaston on Saturday.

Symes has also been volunteering at cricket games, primarily in Midlands region, since 2009, is now 62 but the memories of his milestone birthday in 2014 has not faded even as he has grown older by more than a decade.

It was during an ODI at this venue that Dhoni had handed him the jersey of his then teammate Bhuvneshwar Kumar as a special gesture for his service to the game as a volunteer.

Symes, who has been contributing to cricket operations as a volunteer at this ground for more than a decade, narrated his Dhoni moment to PTI.

“It was a special gesture from Dhoni to call me outside the dressing room and hand him the Indian jersey but it has an interesting backstory,” said Sykes, who now spends more time at cricket ground than driving trucks around the country.

“The previous ODI was in Nottingham and because of the rain, there was a puddle of water holding up play at Trent Bridge. Due to the weather, the players did not have much to do and we were tasked with the arrangement of food for the players.

“A BCCI official was with me and he got to know that my 50th birthday was approaching and the next game was here at Edgbaston. Little did I know that I would be called to dressing room and presented with the jersey in the following game at this very ground,” said Sykes, who also feels proud about carrying the 2019 World Cup trophy into the field ahead of the New Zealand-Pakistan contest in the ICC event.

As he scrolls through his phone, you would find pictures of him with current and former players including former India head coach Ravi Shastri, who was in charge of the team in 2014 (Team Director), 2018 and 2021 (head coach).

Shastri, commentating on the ongoing India England Test series, is among the favourites of Sykes alongside Geoffrey Boycott and Malcolm Marshall.

“I have watched plenty of country games involving Marshall at Hampshire. Boycott was someone I looked up to growing up. Cricket is the only sport that I follow,” he said.

Shastri was in the media box when Sykes narrated his cricketing journey. “I get to be around the people I have admired. I can’t really complain,” Sykes summed up.