Australia captain Michael Clarke questioned Andrew Symonds' commitment to the team following the decision to drop the all-rounder.
All-rounder stood down after fishing trip
Stand-in Australia captain Michael Clarke questioned Andrew Symonds' commitment to the team following the decision to drop the all-rounder for the one-day international series against Bangladesh.
Symonds was sent home from Darwin on Saturday morning after he failed to attend a team meeting on Friday because he had gone fishing.
"I guess the main concern for us is Andrew's commitment to playing for this team and in my opinion, you need to be committed 100%," Clarke said following Australia's 180-run win.
"That's all facets of being an international cricketer. And we believe, for the best interests of this team, for the best interests of Andrew Symonds, to have some time away from the game and let's try and get him right as soon as possible to have him back in our team."
Clarke now hopes Symonds will use his time back home in Brisbane to do some thinking and return stronger than ever in time for the upcoming tour of India.
Disappointed
"Andrew was very disappointed but he accepts our decision and I know Andrew pretty well and I hope he goes away from this and gets himself right and gets himself back into our team, because he's a very important player and we certainly want him as part of our squad," Clarke added.
"It's so hard to play for this team, in my opinion we are the greatest sporting team in the world, so we have standards and they might be higher than other teams but if you don't fulfil those standards, unfortunately you're not going to be a part of our squad.
"I hope he doesn't (take it personally) because Andrew and I are very good friends. Andrew's one of my best friends, closest mates, so it's certainly not personal and I guess that's why we've made this decision, because we want Andrew back in our team.
"We want Andrew part of the Australian team for as long as he wants to be a part but right now, for the best interests of the team, and for the best interests of my friend Andrew Symonds, I believe we've made the right decision."
Committed
Coach Tim Nielsen admitted he was disappointed Symonds has not been as committed as he could be with the likes of injured Ricky Ponting and absent Brett Lee and Matthew Hayden all unavailable for the match against Bangladesh.
"I certainly believe at the moment when we've got such young impressionable faces in our team, we need to make sure our senior blokes are 100% spot on to the way they go about presenting themselves and that was an issue that wasn't being carried out with Andrew," Nielsen said.
