Australian captain Ricky Ponting will gamble on the sore knee of all-rounder Andrew Symonds in the crucial second test against South Africa, beginning today.
Ponting says his side, which is 0-1 down in the three-match series against the confident Proteas, will be unable to call on Symonds to bowl his medium-pacers at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
But the skipper praised the athletic Queenslander for his willingness to battle through the pain barrier in such an important test.
Humiliated by its six-wicket defeat in the first test in Perth, Australia has replaced the expensive Jason Krejza (one for 204) with fellow off-spinner Nathan Hauritz.
Hauritz took four for 95 in a solid performance against lowly New Zealand in the second test in Adelaide last month when Krejza had an ankle injury.
Hauritz (27) has taken nine wickets at 22.00 in his two-test career and boasts an economy rate of 2.95.
Krejza (25) spins the ball more but conceded 4.53 per over in taking 13 wickets at 43.23 in his two tests.
"It's a harsh call on him," Ponting told a news conference.
"But . . . you've all read and heard why Hauritz has been picked ahead of Jason for this game."
The injury-enforced absence of seamer Stuart Clark has left Australia leaking runs without a bowler capable of playing the role of keeping things tight from one end.
"Hopefully he [Hauritz] can do the job that we all want to see from him and hopefully that makes the job for the other bowlers in our side just that little bit easier as well," Ponting said.
"That [keeping the runs down] is the reason he's here."
Paceman Peter Siddle, who also took only one wicket in Perth in his second test and first on home soil, has been retained for his first MCG test ahead of uncapped quick Ben Hilfenhaus and all-rounder Shane Watson.
Ponting said the knee injury of Symonds had "improved dramatically" since Sunday's final day of the first test, when the Queenslander didn't bowl in South Africa's second innings of 414 for four.
"He does feel a lot better with it. He has had a number of scans," Ponting said.
"It is really now just about management through this game and then through the next [Sydney] test match."
Ponting will have the option of using part-time spinners Symonds and Michael Clarke to ease the workload on his pace bowlers Mitchell Johnson, Siddle and Brett Lee, who has been battling illness and took one wicket in Perth.
South Africa named an unchanged side and can snatch the top ranking from Australia if it sweeps the series 3-0 in what would be Australia's first test-series loss at home since 1992-93.
"There's no doubt that this is a big one. The Australian team under adversity or when a big moment or a big game comes up, we generally bring out our best performance," Ponting said.
