Symonds ready to test arm

Andrew Symonds is set for his first net session since injuring his right biceps but Ricky Ponting said the allrounder was still three to four weeks away from being 100% fit. Another three weeks on the sidelines would mean Symonds would miss all of Australia's group matches.

Symonds will have throw-down training with a tennis ball in St Vincent today but will not throw or bowl, the Sunday Herald Sun reported. Symonds had surgery on his ruptured muscle a month ago and Ponting said it had been a risk naming him in the World Cup squad.

"We have taken a bit of a gamble with him coming here, but it's one that we think is very worth taking," Ponting told the paper. "Andrew Symonds is going to get picked in any World XI one-day team over the last couple of years and will probably be picked over the next three or four years. He's a very important player to our team. That's why we've taken that risk."

Ponting said Australia remained confident Symonds would be ready to play at the business-end of the tournament. "We've got lots of great back-up players back in Australia, guys we could have brought and left Andrew out," he said.

"But with the advice we've been given, we think in another three to four weeks he should be right and 100% ready to go. If he is then he'll play a big part for us in the World Cup, no doubt about it."