Andrew Symonds has under a month to pledge his allegiance to Australian cricket and safeguard his passage to the place that commands commitment most - India.
Officials from Cricket Australia (CA), Cricket Queensland and the players union have already begun devising a strategy on how best to assist Symonds, who was yesterday sent home for lacking commitment to his team.
The allrounder was fishing when he should have been attending a compulsory team meeting.
Symonds, 33, was today considering his future after his latest disciplinary lapse brought into question whether he could put the team first or accept his international career was over.
His manager Matt Fearon said Symonds wanted to resume playing, but was unsure whether he would be available for the test tour of India, which departs late next month.
The touring squad could be selected as early as mid-September.
"Andrew's going to take some time to reflect on what's happened," Fearon told Cricinfo.
"He's still committed to playing cricket at the highest level.
"How he goes about doing that and how it plays out I don't know. Whether it means India I don't know." But Symonds' teammates are desperate to have him available for the high-profile test series.
Batsman Mike Hussey said the allrounder was missed in yesterday's win over Bangladesh in the opening one-dayer and would be invaluable in a gruelling series on the subcontinent.
"He's had success there and is a very good player of spin, and that is important," Hussey said.
"He's not going to be built up with pressure with the spinners, where it's dot ball after dot ball, which is going to to be important when we get to India.
"I hope (he can return). I certainly do.
"He's an integral part of the team, a great guy to have around.
"But we need him 100 percent committed to the team, and I'm hoping he can sort out any issues he's got going on in his head and we can have him back ASAP."
Symonds' latest indiscretion disappointed his two greatest allies - captain Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke, the acting skipper in Darwin - and they, along with coach Tim Nielsen, decided enough was enough.
The leadership group had tired of several recent incidents, which showed Symonds put himself first.
The Queenslander has flirted with controversy over the past year.
He was the side's most vocal opponent to touring Pakistan, criticised a CA decision in a newspaper column and was late to a training session in the Caribbean because he slept in.
CA board members decided against ripping up his contract despite his latest transgression, even though he showed up to a match drunk, in Cardiff in 2005, and picked a fight with a rugby player in a Cape Town nightclub in 2006.
Instead CA, Queensland and the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) are devising a strategy to assist Symonds cope with the demands of being an elite cricketer which will include providing access to welfare counsellors.
"We want to allow him to demonstrate he is committed to doing all those things you need to if you're to be part of the world's best cricket team," said CA spokesman Peter Young.
Queensland Cricket and the ACA also promised to provide Symonds with whatever help he needed.
Having players wholly switched on will be paramount to Nielsen given Australia's exhaustive schedule in 2009, with scheduled tours of New Zealand, South Africa, England and India, plus the Champions Trophy jammed between home series.
NSW allrounder Moises Henriques today joined the squad to replace Symonds, but chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch said he would only play in exceptional circumstances.
Fellow allrounder Shane Watson, who missed yesterday's match because he was still feeling the effects of calf soreness and the toe he broke in the West Indies, is expected to be fit for Wednesday's second game.
