Symonds back in favour

Australia to leave out Krejza or Watson

Last updated: 19th November 2008

Symonds back in favour

Symonds: enforced absence

It'll be desperately unlucky for whoever misses out there, Krazy (Krejza) has taken 12 wickets in the last Test match he played and at different times during the Indian series Shane Watson was probably our best bowler.

Ricky Ponting
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Andrew Symonds will make his Test comeback against New Zealand in Brisbane on Thursday, Australia captain Ricky Ponting confirmed.

The Queensland all-rounder has been picked for the first time since being sent home for missing a team meeting to go fishing in August.

Symonds' recall leaves fellow all-rounder Shane Watson and off-spinner Jason Krejza to contest the final spot in the starting XI.

"A tough decision had to be made there, obviously with Symmo, when he was deemed to be fit and ready to go, I thought it was important that we got him back into our team," said Ponting.

"Being a senior member of our team and being someone who was a very successful member of our team before he went out of it, it almost becomes like an injury-type replacement."

Ponting and Australia's chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch are yet to make a decision on who will carry the drinks, suggesting the weather and final condition of the 'Gabba pitch will impact the verdict.

Wait and see

"We'll wait and see what happens this afternoon and tonight, I believe there's a fair bit more rain around which is forecasted this afternoon, so we'll wait until tomorrow morning before we finalise what the starting XI will be," added Ponting.

The Tasmanian admitted that whoever is left on the sidelines has a right to feel aggrieved after both men provided rare bright spots during Australia's recent 2-0 series loss in India.

"It'll be desperately unlucky for whoever misses out there, Krazy (Krejza) has taken 12 wickets in the last Test match he played and at different times during the Indian series Shane Watson was probably our best bowler," he said.

New Zealand head into the opening game of the two-match series with concerns over the depth of their batting.

The Black Caps were rolled for scores of 266 and 256 en route to a six-wicket defeat to New South Wales in their only warm-up fixture.

Balance

Skipper Daniel Vettori, whose left-arm spin was supported by a four-pronged pace attack during that loss, admits the tourists are considering picking South African-born all-rounder Grant Elliott to lengthen the batting order.

"I haven't had a good chance to have a look at the wicket, but we've talked long and hard about it," said Vettori, whose squad contains only three players with 20 Test caps.

"Looking at the balance of the side, whether to bring in Grant Elliott at number seven, and if so, which seamer to leave out. So we'll make those decisions today.

"We're looking at him as a batsman, we try not to bring into play the fact that he bowls a bit.

"We want the best batsman at that position, and I think the guy who comes into the side will bat at seven."

Australia (from): Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke (vice-captain), Stuart Clark, Brad Haddin, Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Simon Katich, Jason Krejza, Brett Lee, Peter Siddle, Andrew Symonds, Shane Watson

New Zealand (from): Daniel Vettori (captain), Aaron Redmond, Jamie How, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Peter Fulton, Daniel Flynn, Brendon McCullum, Grant Elliott, Gareth Hopkins, Tim Southee, Iain O'Brien, Kyle Mills, Mark Gillespie, Chris Martin

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