Symonds back for the Bulls

The Queensland selectors today welcomed back Australian One Day allrounder Andrew Symonds for this week's Pura Milk Cup match with the Southern Redbacks at Allan Border Field.

Symonds, a member of the Australian side that won the international one day series 4-1 in New Zealand, will bat in his customary No. 5 spot for the Bulls, displacing Clinton Perren from the middle order.

Sunshine Coast opener Troy Dixon has been retained at the top of the order, with the selectors opting against rearranging the batting order to include both Perren and Symonds in the line-up. The Bulls will have light training runs tomorrow from 3.30pm and Wednesday from 8.00am to prepare for Thursday's match which will determine whether Queensland host the Pura Milk Cup Final next week.

The Bulls outright loss to the Western Warriors in Perth over the weekend has given the Victorian Bushrangers a mathematical chance of hosting the Final, but Queensland remain in a strong position to host the season decider.

The Bushrangers need a convincing outright win over Tasmania in Hobart and Queensland to lose to the Redbacks in similar fashion. The two teams would then finish equal on 42 points with run rate then determining which team would finish on top.

There is a scenario where Victoria could finish on top due to a superior run rate. The Bushrangers would have to take all 20 wickets and score more than a certain number of runs in each innings, and see Queensland suffer an outright loss where they lose all 20 wickets and score less a certain number of runs in each innings. The matches in progress would determine the respective number of runs to be scored.

The South Australian team named today contains Australian pace bowler Jason Gillespie, whose comeback from a broken leg earned him four wickets on the weekend.

XXXX Queensland Bulls v Southern Redbacks, Thursday-Sunday, Allan Border Field: Stuart Law (c), Jimmy Maher, Troy Dixon, Martin Love, Andrew Symonds, Geoff Foley, Wade Seccombe, Andy Bichel, Adam Dale, Scott Muller, Joe Dawes, Matthew Anderson. (12th man to be named).

Southern Redbacks: Darren Lehmann (c), Shane Dietz, David Fitzgerald, Ben Johnson, Jeff Vaughan, Daniel Harris, Brad Young, Graham Manou, Jeff Gillespie, Paul Wilson, Brett Swain, Peter McIntyre. (12th man to be named).