Australia's Andrew Symonds has failed to train at full pace on Wednesday and faces a battle to prove his fitness for Saturday's World Cup match against South Africa.

The Queensland all-rounder had bicep surgery last month and has been gradually lifting his intensity at training, working towards Australia's final Group A clash with the world No.1-ranked South Africa as a target for his comeback.

"He's batting unrestricted, bowling unrestricted, doing most parts of fielding unrestricted," Australian team physio Alex Kountouris said at the Cayon ground in St Kitts.

"We are just still building up his throwing but he is going okay at the moment.

"We haven't actually cleared him to play. We've still got a few more things we want to do before we reach that point.

"He's been throwing 25 or 30 metres. We still have a little bit more time."

The fresh doubt over the fitness of Symonds could be a reprieve for Victoria's Brad Hodge, who made a century against the Netherlands on Sunday but is the key candidate to make way for Symonds at No.5 in the batting order if the big-hitting all-rounder returns.

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