Melbourne, May 14 : Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds has one week and a handful of Indian Premier League games to force his way into the Ashes squad.
Symonds has three Twenty20 matches for the Deccan Chargers to win over the national selectors and unseat fellow all rounders Shane Watson or Andrew McDonald in the touring party to be named next Wednesday.
Symonds, who turns 34 next month, still has that X-factor quality that has allowed him to be easily forgiven for sins that would have ended a lesser cricketer''s career.
His selection for June''s World Twenty20 showed he is still well thought of and skipper Ricky Ponting has shown enormous faith in him in the past.
"He''s coming to the Twenty20 tournament, so I guess that''s another opportunity to stake a claim for the Ashes," Fox Sports quoted vice-captain Michael Clarke, as saying.
"I''d definitely support him if he was selected," Clarke added.
Symonds'' path to the Ashes looked to have been cleared when Watson injured his groin in the United Arab Emirates this month. But Cricket Australia medical staff cleared him of a serious injury on Wednesday.
The other piece in the puzzle is Andrew McDonald.
The Victorian won a fan in Ponting by sticking to his role with the ball in Australia''s surprise 2-1 Test series win in South Africa in March.
He also showed signs of finding his feet with the bat with a half century in the final Test in Cape Town although his talents are not of the same calibre as Watson and Symonds.
The rest of the squad looks to be fairly straight forward. (ANI)
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