Symonds will average 50 - Maher

The Queensland captain Jimmy Maher has predicted his state team-mate Andrew Symonds will earn a Test average of 50. Symonds has been included in the squad to face West Indies at Hobart from Thursday and Maher, who played 26 one-day internationals, said he could become a regular in the middle order if he kept things simple.

"He is the sort of player who if he gets to 20 is very difficult to remove," Maher said in The Courier-Mail. "The biggest thing is keeping it simple. When he keeps it simple with bat and ball he is dynamic."

Symonds has replaced Shane Watson, who is another Queensland allrounder, and his mixture of offspin and medium pace is not as attractive as his potentially brutal batting. "There is no reason why he can't average 50 in Tests," Maher said. "He's a great player of spin and he's sorted out his game against the quicks and medium pacers. The way the selectors are going with the allrounder role I see Shane Watson batting at No. 4 down the track and Symonds at five or six."

After playing two Tests on Australia's tour to Sri Lanka last year, where he scored 0, 24, 6 and 23, Symonds is within touching distance of his first match at home after a long run in the one-day side. "If you need an injection of something when there is nothing happening, he is the man who can change things around," Maher told the paper. "We used to call him 'Golden Bollocks' because he used to come on after the quicks had busted their guts and he would bowl gentle outswingers and get a wicket."