Cricket Australia's national selection panel have announced a 12-man squad for the first two Test matches against New Zealand.
There were two surprise calls from the selection panel as they called in the Queensland opening duo of Usman Khawaja and Joe Burns. Shaun Marsh and Cameron Bancroft have been left out of the 12-man squad.
The rest of the team remained more or less the same like the one that featured in the Ashes 2015.
"We will need to play at our best to beat a very talented New Zealand side, but we think this squad has the goods to do it and also provides an opportunity for some exciting younger players to make their mark in the Test arena. Usman is a very good player of fast-bowling and is a fine technician; we feel he will make a really solid contribution towards our batting this series," national selector Rod Marsh told the reporters on Friday after the announcing the squad.
"Joe thoroughly deserves his chance and was unlucky to miss out on the West Indies and Ashes tours off the back of two decent performances in his last Test match for Australia in Sydney. He also put in terrific performances during the recent Australia A Series in India."
Adam Voges and Mitchell Marsh too retained their middle-order spots. Voges, who made his Test debut against West Indies earlier this year, has been a strong character in the Aussie side. The bowling attack will showcase the likes of Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson, Josh Hazlewood, Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon.
"We are pleased with how our bowling unit is going at the moment. Both Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood had fantastic performances in the Matador Cup and Mitchell Johnson looks ready to fire after a decent break," Marsh said.
"Off the back of a great bowling performance in the last Test Peter Siddle earns his selection with Nathan Lyon, a proven performer in the side rounding out our attack."
Australia and New Zealand will be playing three Test matches starting from 5 November. The first Test will be played at the Gabba, Brisbane. This Test series also includes the first day-night Test match in the history of cricket, which will be the third and final Test of the series and it will be played at the Adelaide with the pink ball.
Australia's squad for the first two Test matches against Black Caps:
Steve Smith (C), David Warner, Joe Burns, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Peter Nevill, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle, Adam Voges.
