Struggling paceman Ben Hilfenhaus recalled for first Test against Sri Lanka in Hobart

BEN Hilfenhaus will be recalled for the first Test against Sri Lanka in Hobart despite claiming just two meaningful wickets this summer.

SPOOKED by South Africa's free-for-all against Australia's revamped pace attack in Perth, the selectors will recall handbrake Ben Hilfenhaus for his home Test in Hobart.

While the struggling swing bowler has hardly taken a wicket of note this summer, his accuracy and economy will win him a place for the first Test against Sri Lanka, beginning at Blundstone Arena on Friday.

This means that Mitchell Johnson, the best bowler during the last Test against South Africa at the WACA Ground, is likely to pay the price for a profligate attack and be named 12th man.

Johnson, Mitchell Starc and now injured debutant John Hastings may have bowled South Africa out for 225 on the opening day, but it was the 206 South Africa scored during the last session of the second day which broke the game open and remains front of mind with the selectors.

South Africa went on to make 569 in its second innings at better than five an over, setting up a 309-run victory to claim the series and retain the No.1 Test ranking.

This has left the selectors with a reluctance to play both Starc and Johnson in the same side, lest the powerful Sri Lankan batting line-up takes its lead from South Africa.

Starc has two significant advantages over fellow left-armer Johnson. The first is that he can swing the new ball consistently back into the right hander, giving captain Michael Clarke the option to use Starc as an opening bowler, which he did in Perth.

The second is that Starc is aged just 22, while Johnson is 31 and there is a strong emphasis on getting Starc, a veteran of just five Tests, as ready as he can be for the Ashes in England next year.

Being a new ball bowler also helped Hilfenhaus’s case.

Peter Siddle has been recalled after missing the Perth Test with a minor hamstring concern and while he is rightly regarded as Australia’s best bowler at the moment, he is not a natural swinger of the ball.

This leaves Hilfenhaus and Starc as the obvious choice to share the new ball with Siddle in the side, forcing Johnson out unless the selectors decide to drop spinner Nathan Lyon and play four fast bowlers.

The option of four quicks has been discussed, given the damage fast bowlers did on a sporting wicket in Hobart last year when New Zealand scored a shock seven-run victory, its first in Australia for 26 years.

And the series of low Sheffield Shield scores on a relaid pitch at Bellerive Oval during the first half of this season have added to the debate.

However, an extra fast bowler appears superfluous now that all-rounder Shane Watson is back in the side.

And Clarke is loath to go into a Test without a spinner, as he highlighted by preferring Lyon for the Brisbane and Perth Tests against South Africa.

Johnson needs just four wickets to become the 14th Australian to reach the magical 200 milestone, but after bowling his heart out in Perth with good pace and menace, may be left wondering where they will come from.