Cricket Australia decide on Symonds

Andrew Symonds must decide whether he is available for Australia

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The future of fallen star Andrew Symonds could be as much in his own hands as it is Cricket Australia's, chief executive officer James Sutherland said today.

As Australia gained an unassailable 2-0 lead in its best-of-three series against Bangladesh in Darwin, Symonds was away from the team pondering his future in the game after being sent home after missing a compulsory team meeting on Saturday.

Sutherland said Symonds’ situation had been dealt with by the Australian team leadership group as a “welfare issue”.

Even if Symonds again made himself available for international cricket, whether he returned to the Australia team would be decided by CA, Sutherland said.

Australia will play a four-Test series in India next month before the start of the Australian summer, which will feature six Tests and 13 one-day internationals and Twenty20 matches against New Zealand and South Africa.

They then head to South Africa for a two-month long tour before going to England for the ICC World Twenty20 and the defence of the Ashes.

“He needs to work out that he does definitely want to commit to the Australian cricket team and everything that comes with that,” Sutherland said.

“But on top of that there's also a duty of care that we have as an employer to ensure that he is in a fit state.

Chief executive officer James Sutherland says CA have a duty of care to Symonds

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“We've got an extremely busy schedule coming up from the start of the Indian tour onwards. It's a very, very busy schedule.

“There are not a lot of breaks and we need people that are up and going, who want to be there and have the tools in place to deal with the ups and downs of being a member of a high-profile team.”

Former Test captain Greg Chappell, no stranger to the strains of international cricket himself, said it was important Symonds used his time away to work out if he still wanted to play for Australia.

“I missed a few tours towards the end of my career because I knew I needed that break if I wanted to keep playing,” said Chappell, who was on Wednesday appointed the head coach of the CA Centre of Excellence.

“You've got to work out for yourself what's important and what's best for you at that time.”