Sky Sports - England in Australia

Monty Panesar returns from over a year in the international wilderness to make his second tour of Australia.

The left-arm spinner last played for his country in the opening match of the 2009 Ashes series in Cardiff, where he was an unlikely hero with the bat on the final day to help secure a draw.

Given his chance on the tour to India back in 2006, Panesar - the first Sikh to play Test cricket for England - quickly made an impression when Sachin Tendulkar became his maiden victim.

He built on that positive start over the next two years and was particularly effective in home conditions, troubling the batting line-ups of Pakistan, West Indies and New Zealand.

Panesar was controversially overlooked in favour of the more experienced Ashley Giles for the first two Tests on the 2006/07 Ashes tour.

Finally unleashed in the third Test at Perth, he immediately became the first English spinner to take five wickets in an innings at the WACA, although his presence did not save the tourists from going on to lose the series 5-0.

In 39 Tests to date, Panesar has taken 126 wickets at 34.37, including eight five-wicket hauls and best match figures of 10-187 against West Indies at Old Trafford in 2007.

But a loss of form and confidence, coupled with the emergence of Graeme Swann, saw him lose his position as the first-choice slow bowler following the tour of West Indies in early 2009.

A switch of county from Northamptonshire to Sussex proved the catalyst for Panesar to rediscover his form and, after taking 52 wickets in Division Two of the LV County Championship in 2010, the selectors were sufficiently impressed to include him in their Ashes squad as Swann's back-up.

Despite his Cardiff heroics, Panesar is a genuine number 11 batsman and also a cult figure with the Barmy Army due to his enthusiastic, if fallible, fielding and wicket-taking celebrations.