Ricky Ponting picks his Australian Test squad for first test vs New Zealand

Ponting included a debutant in his team

Former Australian batting legend Ricky Ponting has chosen his Australian Test side for the first Test against New Zealand, reports cricket.com.au. The captain’s squad included a debutant – Cameron Bancroft, but also emphasised more on the pace-bowling department. 

The veteran batsman felt the biggest concern for the selectors will be the fast-bowling department, which has caused problems for the Australian Test squad, for a few months now.

The bowling performance of the Aussies in the recently held Ashes series was wayward, to say the least. Barring Mitchell Starc, other bowlers performed in patches for the team. 

However, the performance of Peter Siddle, who was brought in as a replacement to Josh Hazlewood in the final Ashes Test, will definitely have an impact on the selectors. Siddle picked up six wickets, helping Australia secure a consolation win.

"I think they'll (national selectors) have a big decision to make on their fast bowling group on the back of Siddle's performance in his last Test match," Ponting stated.

Initially, Siddle was chosen to be part of the Bangladesh tour and the pace duo of Johnson and Hazlewood were rested. However, with the tour getting scrapped, Siddle did not get to prove himself in the limited-overs format.

Ponting felt that it would be an added headache for the selectors to choose between Siddle and Hazlewood, the latter displaying his class again, in the Matador ODI Cup.  

"It's obviously disappointing for him that Bangladesh hasn't gone ahead because he was going on that tour and interestingly he hasn't played much white-ball cricket over the past couple of weeks. It'd be interesting to see what they do with the selection of their fast bowlers, just seeing how well that combination worked in the last Test with Siddle back in the side,” he said.

In the batting section, the former captain chose debutant, Cameron Bancroft to open the innings with David Warner on top of the order. The crucial middle-order consisted of Usman Khawaja, Adam Voges and captain Steve Smith. All-rounder Mitchell Marsh and wicketkeeper Peter Nevill were placed at numbers 6 and 7 respectively.

Ponting's team for the first Test: David Warner, Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith, Adam Voges, Mitchell Marsh, Peter Nevill, Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood/Peter Siddle, Nathan Lyon.