Aussies spring Hilfenhaus surprise

Of the two men who had opened in their first innings,skipper David Warner was putting his feet up in the dressing room.

Following Indias early,pre-arranged declaration at the Manuka Oval,the Chairmans XI sent out Phil Hughes and Usman Khawaja to play what must have seemed to them the most pointless innings of their lives.

Of the two men who had opened in their first innings,skipper David Warner was putting his feet up in the dressing room. The other,Ed Cowan,walked into the media conference room for the third time in four days,to talk about his call-up to the Test squad for the Boxing Day Test.

By now,Cowans selection wasnt a surprise at all. His century on Day Two had more or less sealed that debate. As freshly printed squad sheets were handed around the conference room,the name that raised most eyebrows was that of Cowans teammate at Tasmania,Ben Hilfenhaus.

In the span of two Ashes series,Hilfenhaus had seen the highs and lows of Test cricket. In England in 2009,he had taken a table-topping 22 wickets at 27.45. His accurate,close-to-the-wicket outswingers reminiscent of Terry Alderman had been the pick of an often inconsistent Australian seam attack. In the return series in 2010-11,on the flatter Australian wickets,the English batsmen had picked him off ruthlessly,allowing him only seven wickets in four Tests,or a wicket every 135.2 deliveries.

Since then,Hilfenhaus hasnt played any Test cricket. But he is back now,a medium-fast 28-year-old reappearing at a time when Australia had seemed blessed with an explosion of youthful pace. But with Pat Cummins and Ben Cutting out injured and Mitchell Johnson too its doubtful if the selectors would have chosen him even if fit there was a little opening for someone. That man happened to be Ben Hilfenhaus,coming off a domestic season that yielded him 22 wickets at 30.90.

The feeling around here is that Hilfenhaus would edge left-armer Mitchell Starc out of the eleven,on account of his experience and reliability. The scale of the occasion bowling to Sehwag,Gambhir,Dravid,Tendulkar and Laxman might just overwhelm Starc.

Last year,Hilfenhaus played two Tests against India at Mohali and Bangalore,and while his returns didnt look earth-shattering six wickets at 43.50 he was probably the best bowler among the tourists in terms of control. Speculatively,conditions at Melbourne,at the start of an uncharacteristically cool and wet summer,might also help Hilfenhauss style. Seamer-friendly wickets,moreover,arent too uncommon at that venue. Last year,the Australians were bowled out for 98 on Boxing Day by James Anderson,Chris Tremlett and Tim Bresnan,with ten catches flying to the slips or gully.

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Pattinson,Siddle and Hilfenhaus doesnt have the ring of McGrath,Gillespie and Lee,but with a bit of grass and a scattering of cloud,they might still unsettle an Indian team notorious for first-Test blues on tour.

Squad: Michael Clarke c,Brad Haddin,Dan Christian,Ed Cowan,Ben Hilfenhaus,Mike Hussey,Nathan Lyon,Shaun Marsh,James Pattinson,Ricky Ponting,Peter Siddle,Mitchell Starc,David Warner.