Sutherland impressed by Symonds' resolve

Andrew Symonds is "in a good place" and has impressed Cricket Australia with his effort and application since being dumped from the national squad, according to the Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland. However, no time-frame has been set for Symonds to return to the Australia side and Sutherland said the lack of runs Symonds had been making for Queensland was "one of the missing bits of the jigsaw".

Symonds was sent home from Australia's ODI series in Darwin in August after he went fishing when he should have been at a team meeting. It was the last straw for the team's leadership group, which had already been concerned about Symonds' attitude over the previous few months.

Since declaring his intentions to fight back into the Test and one-day international teams, Symonds has struggled to score big runs at Queensland, where his only major contribution was 73 in a one-day game and he has 36 from four Sheffield Shield innings. Sutherland met with Symonds recently and said he was happy with the allrounder's progress.

"We had a good chat," Sutherland told the Sydney Morning Herald. "Over the last month or so, I've had regular chats with Andrew over the phone and I caught up with him face-to-face in Brisbane a few weeks ago, as much as anything, to be able to talk to him face-to-face and see how he's coming along.

"It was a good chat. He understands where we are up to and vice versa. He'd probably be liking to make a few more runs. I think he's in a good place. I know talking to him and others who are close to him as he seeks to come back to full strength - mental, physical and skill-wise - that he's progressing really well.

"He's in a good place and perhaps one of the missing bits of the jigsaw at the moment is just his on-field form. Certainly in terms of effort and application, everything is really, really good."

Symonds was not considered for the tour of India and has lost the No. 6 position in the Test side to Shane Watson, who has been a strong contributor in the first two Tests. However, there will be considerable debate as to whether Symonds will be ready to return when Australia's home Test summer begins in Brisbane against New Zealand in late November.