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 today, leaving spinner Jason Krejza and all-rounder Shane Watson locked in a battle for the final spot in the starting XI for tomorrow's match.

Ponting and chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch are yet to make a decision on who will carry the drinks, suggesting the weather and final condition of the pitch will impact the verdict.

"We'll wait and see what happens this afternoon and tonight, I believe there's a fair bit more rain around which is forecasted this afternoon, so we'll wait until tomorrow 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."

After days on end of inclement weather, sunshine was finally out in force in Brisbane today and the covers were able to come off, revealing an expectedly green Gabba wicket.

Ponting believed the pitch would play well, provided the showers stayed away.

"It's encouraging at the moment to see a lot of sun out there," he said.

"Hopefully we get a whole day of sun today and some good sun in the morning and the wicket probably won't be as bad as we all expected."

Australia will go into the match as favourites and Ponting anticipated his side would bounce back after a 2-0 Test series loss to India.

"I'd expect us to win the series, whether that's 2-0 or 1-0, I'd expect us to win, I have a lot of confidence in this group," he said.

"Sure, we're smack bang in the middle of a rebuilding phase, and a lot of our players are still developing and working out ways to be successful at Test level.

"It's still an exciting time for me as a captain to see some of these younger guys coming on and I know it's a great challenge that lies ahead for the whole team to try and forge an identity for itself."