Left to help a team temporarily out of action? (4,5)
I believe the answer is:
laid aside
'temporarily out of action?' is the definition.
'left to help a team' is the wordplay.
'left' becomes 'l' (common abbreviation).
'to help' becomes 'aid' ('aid' can be a synonym of 'help'**).
'team' becomes 'side' (I've seen this before).
'l'+'aid'+'a'+'side'='LAID ASIDE'
(Other definitions for laid aside that I've seen before include "Waiting for possible employment" , "on the shelf?" .)