Shane Watson's axing from Australia's squad has guaranteed rookie spinner Jason Krejza a maiden home Test which may gauge his true worth as an international spinner.
Watson was dumped just hours after left-armer Mitchell Johnson (5-39) propelled Australia to a 149-run victory over New Zealand, 48 minutes into day four at the Gabba.
The Queensland all-rounder, who performed solidly in all four Tests in India, lost his place after double failures (1 and 5) with the bat, as Victorian quick Peter Siddle was called into the 12-man squad for the second Test, starting Friday in Adelaide.
"We have been very pleased with Shane's development, but for the Adelaide Test our intention is to play a specialist spinner rather than the make-up used successfully in the first Test," said chief selector Andrew Hilditch on Sunday.
After taking an amazing 12 wickets in his Test debut in Nagpur, but made 12th man at the Gabba due to the pace-friendly conditions, Krejza faces another moment of truth at the Adelaide Oval.
With NZ skipper Daniel Vettori citing slow bowling as the only possible vulnerability in Australia's outfit, Krejza will be sorely tested by the tourists.
Their inexperienced batsmen pale in quality to the Indian top-order the Tasmanian off-spinner surprised in Nagpur but the Black Caps will also show far more respect, and are determined to bounce back from their Gabba efforts.
NZ were bowled out for 151 and 177, with their second-innings meltdown occurring when the pitch was at its best for batting.
Johnson, who edged Simon Katich (131no) out for man-of-the-match honours, tore through the Black Caps tail to grab his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket and return 9-69 for the match.
With the hosts in trouble late on day two and early on day three, Katich played a priceless knock to lift the world champions to a position of power before Johnson and Stuart Clark (4-43) rammed home the advantage.
After a 2-0 series loss in India, skipper Ricky Ponting labelled the result a confidence boost but demanded far more consistency from his troops.
Only Johnson, Clark, Katich and Michael Clarke, who scored an important day-one 98, would have been satisfied with their performances against No.7-ranked NZ.
"We can't get carried away with this result," Ponting said.
"If we didn't take wickets with the new ball (Saturday) night we could have had a real tough game on our hands.
"We've had a number of outstanding individual performances in the game, but at the moment we're just lacking that real consistency in the group that we need to play our best cricket."
Ponting admitted his batsmen suffered from a post-India hangover in having to adjust to the bouncy, seaming conditions of Brisbane, with a limited preparation.
But he talked up the importance of having flexibility in his squad and was keen to expose fringe players with "horses for courses" selections.
"It's no good, I don't think, a lot of the time going on tours carrying around 14 or 15 blokes around and not seeing how they go," Ponting said, looking ahead to home and away series against South Africa before next year's Ashes.
"We have to start looking at the guys that are going to be suited to those (upcoming) conditions and even look ahead to England as well.
"We're going to need people over there who can swing the ball and stand the seam up and do that all the time."
Siddle, playing for Victoria against WA said he was suitably delighted to earn a recall.
"It was good. We got to lunch this afternoon and Boony (selector David Boon) came in to give me the good news," he said.
"It's always good to get back in there and if I get a game, I get a game, but if not it's just good to be back in the squad."