Pat Symcox was the premier spinner for the South African national team between the years 1993-1999. He depended more on guile, outfoxing the batsman with pace and bounce rather than with turn and flight. Apart from being just a regular bowler, he was a more than useful lower order batsman. In fact, he started his career as an opening batsman but then chose to move down the order to focus on his bowling. Spin, as we know has not been South Africa's strength over the years, yet Symcox managed to etch his name in history as one of the best spinners seen.

Symcox will be remembered for his only Test century batting at number ten against Pakistan at Johannesburg, Furthermore, another famous incident involving Symcox was being bowled by Mushtaq Ahmed but was ruled not out since a bail had not been dislodged. Surprisingly, he was dropped from the side after scoring the Test century.