By IANS,
Sydney : Austalian selectors have given one last chance to controversial all-rounder Andrew Symonds to prove his form by picking him for the the One-day series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
It is for the second time in six months that Symonds has been selected to play for Australia despite his mediocre domestic form and selection chairman Andrew Hilditch admitted that the Queenslander has been chosen largely because of his past heroics.
“He’s obviously not performed domestically well as we or he would have liked, so we really had to make a decision on giving him an opportunity to see how he is doing prior to the Twenty20 (world championships in June),” Hilditch was quoted as saying in the Sydney Morning Herald.
“We thought it was the right way to go but, as I’ve told Andrew, it will be up to him from now on. He will have to perform.”
“We think after everything he’s done for Australian cricket, one of our all-time best one-day players, that he deserves this opportunity,” he said.
Symonds made 197 runs at 15.15 in eight first-class matches for Queensland last summer, and passed 50 only twice in either form of the game. He received encouragement from teammates as he considered his future after he was stood down from the national team in February for further counselling.
Symonds, who has managed to convince Cricket Australia (CA) that he has overcome the behavioural issues that cruelled his summer, said he was ready to return.
“That’s not something I’ve ever taken for granted so it’s going to be pretty rewarding to be a part of the side, considering I’ve worked hard to get back,” he said.