DARWIN, Aug 31: Portugal-born all-rounder Moises Henriques has been called into the Australian cricket team as a replacement for Andrew Symonds, dismissed from the team on Saturday for disciplinary reasons.

Henriques, a former Australian under-19 captain who has played only a handful of matches for New South Wales, will stand in for Symonds in the two remaining matches of Australia’s three-match limited overs series against Bangladesh. Australia won the first match Saturday by 180 runs.

Chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch said Henriques, 21, would only play against Bangladesh in exceptional circumstances. A replacement would usually be drawn from the Australian ‘A’ team, but that team is currently touring India and Henriques was on hand in Darwin after playing for the Australian Institute of Sport against Australia last week.

“Given the importance of the Australia A tour of India, where players will have an opportunity to press for Test selection in the upcoming [Australia-India] series, it was decided that a young, emerging player should be added to the national team to gain experience,” Hilditch said.—AP