Symonds a chance for Netherlands game

Andrew Symonds could return from his biceps injury even sooner than anticipated, with Australia revealing they might play him against Netherlands on March 18. That is nearly a week before the South Africa group match that was his original priority.

Alex Kountouris, Australia's physiotherapist, said Symonds' rehabilitation was going so well there was a slight chance he could be ready ahead of schedule. "It's unlikely but I won't rule it out," Kountouris told the Herald Sun.

"The 24th [for the South Africa game] was what we were roughly looking at. If he happens to get ahead of time, we won't discount that. He is making good progress. He is meeting all the rehab goals we have set, so he is on target to what we expected. We haven't had any setbacks."

Symonds, who had surgery on his ruptured right biceps on February 4, continued his recovery with his first catching practice at St Vincent before Australia's warm-up win over England. The previous day he faced genuine spin bowling for the first time since the operation.

Kountouris said Symonds was keen to keep pushing himself harder but his biggest challenge would be when he started more strenuous activities. "The plan next week is to do the more dangerous things for him, which is throwing, bowling and more aggressive batting," Kountouris said.

Should Symonds make a surprise appearance against Netherlands, it would be exactly six weeks since his surgery. Some sports physicians said at the time six weeks was the minimum recovery he would need, although it was more likely to be a three-month injury.