Already weakened without three of their stars, Australia have sent Andrew Symonds home for undisclosed reasons.

The all-rounder, who was disciplined by Cricket Australia during Australia's ill-fated tour of England three years ago for arriving on the morning of a game drunk, will not play any part in the three-match one-day series against Bangladesh.

With skipper Ricky Ponting (wrist), opener Matthew Hayden (Achilles) and fast bowler Brett Lee (personal reasons) all unavailable, stand-in skipper Michael Clarke would have been looking to the likes of Symonds to lead the charge.

But CA released a statement on Saturday morning, just hours before the opening match of the series at Darwin's TIO Stadium, revealing that Symonds was sent packing 'following a recommendation by the team leadership group ... late on Friday night'.

With no replacement immediately named, CA will hold a media conference after Saturday's match in which they will provide 'details relating to Symonds' departure'.

The explosive batsman, who earlier this week was dubbed by Australian coach Mike Young as the Usain Bolt of cricket for his athleticism in the field, was left out of Australia's team in 2005 when it went on to suffer a shock loss to Bangladesh in Cardiff.

This is Australia's first match since the team's successful tour of the West Indies in July.