All-rounder Andrew Symonds will return to the Australia Test side for the opening Test against New Zealand at the Gabba.

Captain Ricky Ponting made the announcement on Wednesday, leaving spinner Jason Krejza and all-rounder Shane Watson locked in a battle for the final spot in the starting XI for Thursday's match.

"We'll wait and see what happens on Wednesday afternoon and night, I believe there's a fair bit more rain around which is forecasted so we'll wait until Thursday morning before we finalise what the starting XI will be," the skipper said.

Ponting admitted that whoever is left on the sidelines has a right to feel aggrieved after their fine efforts in the tour of India.

"Absolutely, it'll be desperately unlucky for whoever misses out there, Krazy 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 added.

Ponting said Symonds' ability as a player meant that he demanded selection after spending months away from the national side following his dismissal from the Top End ODI series for disciplinary reasons.

"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."