The Australian selectors have thrown enfant terrible Andrew Symonds a lifeline with a perform-or-perish inclusion in the team to play Pakistan in Abu Dhabi later this month.
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But although Ricky Ponting has welcomed his inclusion, South African skipper Graeme Smith believes the all-rounder's presence could be "disruptive".
"He has a lot of experience, he has played a lot ofu00a0 key knocks for them at (number) five," Smith said yesterday in Cape Town, where his team defeated the Australians by 25 runs last night to take a 2-1 lead in the ODI series.
"He (Symonds) does provide them with a little bit more balance, I guess," Smith said. "He's a great fielder. In terms of a cricketer, I think they'd love to have him back.
Negative effect?
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Disruptive force: Andrew Symonds |
Smith, who had a run-in with Symonds at a Cape Town nightclub during Australia's 2006 tour added: "It can be disruptive if he still has issues and it can disrupt other players. So I guess how they manage it is going to be the key."
Smith is quoted by AAP as saying he had concerns about how his brilliant batsman Herschelle Gibbs would fit back into the team environment after his alcohol rehabilitation.
"You always have apprehension when Herschelle is coming back into the team environment," Smith said.
"But I think the key is Herschelle has taken responsibility for himself. He has really fitted back into the (team) environment. He has handled himself extremely well since he came back.
"He has really moved into a new phase and made an effort in terms of improving his lifestyle.
"That really made it a lot easier for us, and I guess that onus is going to be on Symonds when he joins the squad.
"Our values in the team don't change. 'Hersch' has got to fit into it, and he has really well," Graeme Smith said.
Selection committee Andrew Hilditch has admitted Symonds, notorious for his repeated spats with Harbhajan Singh, has been selected largely because of his past performances.
"He's obviously not performed domestically as well we or he would have liked so, we really had to make a decision on giving him an opportunity to see how he was going or not prior to the Twenty20 (world championships in June),' Hilditch said.
Have to perform
"We thought it was the right way to go but, as I've told Andrew, it will be up to him from now on. He's going to have to perform.
"We think after everything he's done for Australian cricket, one of our all-time best one-day players, that he deserves this opportunity. But it will be up to him now to seize that chance."
Australian captain Ricky Ponting said: "He's a very important player in our overall set-up. Yes, he is working his fair share of issues and everything. But once he gets back around us then I'm sure that he will have an impact on our team with his on-field performances."
Symonds has been included in the Australian squad along with fast bowler Brett Lee who is making a comeback after surgery to his foot and ankle.
But Lee's inclusion in the playing eleven is by no means certain after the outstanding performances by pace bowlers Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle in South Africa. (Johnson and Siddle have been rested for the Abu Dhabi series, along with Ponting and Michael Clarke will lead the side).
"He (Lee) will need to get cricket under his belt," Hilditch said. "He's got to get back to bowling full pace before we can make any decisions. Everybody is on trial, really."
The comebacks of crowd-pullers Lee and Symonds (and Shane Watson) in the national squad for the offshore series against Pakistan starting on April 22 is being viewed here as a set-back of sorts for the IPL.
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