State of Origin legend Gorden Tallis reveals the innocent mistake West Indies cricket great Brian Lara made when they shared a car on the way to Andrew Symonds’ funeral
- Cricket legend Brian Lara mistook NRL great Gorden Tallis as his ‘hired security’
- The sporting pair shared a hire car to Andrew Symonds’ funeral in Townsville
- Lara politely asked who Tallis was, left many Aussie cricket greats in hysterics
West Indies cricket great Brian Lara left a number of former Australian cricketers in stitches when he made a hilarious assumption about NRL legend Gorden Tallis at Andrew Symonds’ funeral.
By pure coincidence, Lara – who flew 10,000km direct from India to pay his respects in person to Symonds – shared a hire car with Tallis to the memorial service from the Townsville Casino last Friday.
Tallis, 48, is an imposing figure – and Lara certainly thought so, mistaking the ‘Raging Bull’ as his security man for the day.
The Fox Sports rugby league personality wasn’t sure what to think at the wake when a ‘few of the Australian cricket boys were all having a laugh about something’.
‘When I asked them what it was, they said ‘Brian Lara thought you were his security’,’ Tallis recalled.
West Indies cricket great Brian Lara (pictured left) left a number of former Australian cricketers in stitches when he politely queried the identity of NRL legend Gorden Tallis (pictured middle) at Andrew Symonds’ funeral last Friday
Lara initially thought Tallis was a security guard from the Townsville Casino hired to look after the cricket legend, who was in far north Queensland for Andrew Symonds’ funeral
‘Brian then came over and said to me ‘I thought you worked for the casino’.
‘We ended up having a few beers and had a good laugh about it.’
The death of Symonds, 46, on May 14 following a car accident deeply rocked Lara – as did the passing of champion leg-spinner Shane Warne in March.
‘I felt I was building something beyond cricket with Andrew,’ Lara said.
‘Sometimes you lose relationships with players when you retire. But ours grew. And it was not because he forced it or I forced it. It just happened naturally. We were awesome together.’
Lara and Symonds were fierce on-field opponents, but developed a close friendship away from cricket, especially in recent years
West Indies cricket legend Brian Lara (pictured left) travelled 10,000km to Townsville from India to farewell his good mate and former rival Andrew Symonds
Lara admired the fact that Symonds was his own man and lived a life different to that of his contemporaries.
And the man they affectionately used to call ‘Roy’ had a dry sense of humour that kept Lara entertained.
Following Warne’s funeral, the pair socialised together at the Crown in Melbourne until the early hours – memories Lara will now always cherish.
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