Melbourne: Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting on Sunday backed James Pattinson to make it into the Aussie team's playing XI as injured Josh Hazlewood's replacement for the Boxing Day Test.
Hazlewood was on Sunday ruled out of the second Test against New Zealand due to a hamstring tear.
Hazlewood picked an injury on the second day of the ongoing first Test match. He bowled only eight balls in the match before walking off the ground on Friday.
"James Pattinson is the obvious one to come in. He's aggressive and has the ability to swing the new ball as well," cricket.com.au quoted Ponting as saying.
"I think the Australians would have been tossing up whether to play Pattinson or Starc in the first Test in Brisbane and then 'Patto' ruled himself out with that suspension that he got," he added.
Australia declared after scoring 217 runs in the second innings of the first Test on Sunday.
