Melbourne, Feb. 5 : Former Australian leg spinner Shane Warne has said that all-rounder Andrew Symonds has been given a chance to save his international career in the sport by not being picked for the tour of South Africa.

Describing it as the best thing that could have happened to Symonds, Warne was quoted by Fox Sports as saying that it gives him a chance to find form in the domestic competition for Queensland, and gives him time to fix his off-field problems and continue his rehab.

"I am a big fan of Roy and most of the public are, too. Roy has been honest with himself and is dealing with his issues -the problem for Roy is he''s in rehab and trying to get back into the national side at the same time. By not being selected for the tour to South Africa, Roy has his best chance to fight his way back into the Test side. He can make some big scores for Queensland and work out how important it is to him to be playing for Australia," Warne said.

"He has to get his head right and take the attitude that cricket is the most important thing in his life and not let anything get in the way of that. We all make a few wrong choices in life; that''s part of the journey and how we learn. The key to everything is attitude: Don''t take things for granted and expect to be selected. It''s about warranting selection and having pride in your performance and the team''s success," he added.

"In cricket, like most sports, if you perform, you play. If not, then go back to domestic cricket and through pure weight of runs and wickets the selection will look after itself," Warne said.

He also said that there were a few things that needed to be improved in the Australian team, and suggested that while results have not been great in Tests and one-day cricket this summer, the team is not far away from regaining its past glory. (ANI)