Australia will resist the temptation to fast-track Andrew Symonds's return from exile and send him to India to bolster the struggling Australian team, reports said Monday.Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland, in Mohali watching the second Test, said the troubled all-rounder remained off limits to the selectors as they consider a replacement for injured reserve batsman Phil Jaques.
Opening batsman Jaques is being sent home from the Indian tour because of a back injury.
"It's not an issue for the selectors at this stage," Sutherland told The Sydney Morning Herald.
"There are medical and other related issues that are being worked through as part of the process. There is a staged process that Andrew has got to go through.
"He is back playing cricket, which is good, but there is a whole lot of other things that need to be satisfied before we get to a stage for the selectors to have an interest in it."
Symonds was axed from Australia's team after opting to go fishing rather than attend a compulsory team meeting during their one-day series against Bangladesh in Darwin in August.
It was the latest drama to engulf him during the past year.
He was involved in an on-field dispute with Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh in Sydney last January, upset Australian officials by declaring he would not play in Pakistan and was fined for missing a team bus in the West Indies.
Sutherland said he has taken an interest in the rehabilitation of Symonds and was confident the 33-year-old would play again for his country.
"I have spent some time with him and I know others have, and the thing I am pleased about is that he knows what he wants to do and perhaps there have been times in the course of the last year when he hasn't really known what is important to him," Sutherland said.
"I am satisfied that he is working in the right direction to play cricket for Australia again."
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