Symonds won't replace Jaques - Sutherland

James Sutherland, Cricket Australia's chief executive, has ruled out the possibility of Andrew Symonds replacing the injured Phil Jaques in Australia's Test squad in India. Jaques, the reserve opener in the 15-man group, returned home after succumbing to a long-standing back problem.

Symonds, David Hussey, Brad Hodge and Shaun Marsh were expected to be the leading candidates to replace Jaques. But Sutherland said Symonds had to go through a "staged process" before he was considered for selection. "He is back playing cricket, which is good, but there is a whole lot of other things that need to be satisfied before we get to a stage for the selectors to have an interest in it," Sutherland told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Symonds was omitted from the original squad after he missed a team meeting ahead of the ODI series against Bangladesh in Darwin. As well as satisfying Cricket Australia regarding his attitude, Symonds will need to prove his form before being selected - his 73 in the FR Cup on Saturday was his first innings of note since the Darwin trip.

Sutherland said Symonds was working in the right direction to get back in to the side. "I have spent some time with him and I know others have, and the thing I am pleased about is that he knows what he wants to do," he said. "Perhaps there have been times in the course of the last year when he hasn't really known what is important to him."