Back in familiar territory with home comforts restored and dodgy viruses beaten, all eyes now fall on Australia post-Indian thrashing.

Having lost a landmark series by a convincing margin which heralded their return to the rest of the pack, Ricky Ponting's men have the perfect opportunity to restore some of their reputation with a thorough trouncing of their Antipodean neighbours.

It was a strange sight to see Australia so listless, so error-ridden, so distinctly second-best, but while New Zealand can cause problems on their day it's fair to expect normal service to resume for Australia now that they're back on home soil.

With faster pitches on offer once more, their bowling attack suddenly looks a different prospect to the one that toiled for hours on the stingy pitches of India, where wickets had to be earned through craft and guile that first-time visitors could hardly have been expected to possess.

Inability to make breakthroughs with the ball was their main trouble on the sub-continent, and was the source of the frustration which led to the poor fielding that reflected a general loss of self-confidence.

The batsmen also struggled but not to the same extent, and a strong line-up has now been boosted by the return of Andrew Symonds, whose prickly presence was greatly missed on the recent tour - and not just by journalists looking for a good story.

There are bound to be some edgy times in the dressing room at first, given the lack of respect he showed to his teammates in the year leading up to his enforced sabbatical, but out on the field he will add confidence to a side drained of this quality over the past two months.

With the Gabba pitch sounding particularly green after days of rain Symonds is likely to replace off spinner Jason Krejza, who seems set to miss out in a two-way shoot-out with Shane Watson.

Either man can feel aggrieved at being left out after impressing in India - Watson over a more sustained period than 'Krazy' - but conditions are likely to deem Watson's powerful pace more useful than Krejza's tweakers. That is a pity because Krejza will need time to re-adapt if he is to carry the spin burden on home pitches.

Meanwhile New Zealand are in more trouble than usual, and are even poised to bring in all-rounder Grant Elliott at number seven to shore up the batting. The knock-on effect of this would be that they lose a specialist seamer, a terrible affliction for a side that don't really have any good ones in the first place. Tim Southee is most likely to miss out.

With all-rounder Jacob Oram out for the series with a back problem, the only good news is that Jesse Ryder and Brendon McCullum have recovered from their respective ailments and so Peter Fulton and Gareth Hopkins will remain on the sidelines.

New Zealand's standing in Test cricket is summed up by the fact that they will drop to eighth place in the rankings - below West Indies but ahead of Bangladesh - should they lose the series 2-0.

The inclusion of Elliott is an indication that a draw would suffice for the Black Caps, but even that will be a struggle given that their best bowler, captain Daniel Vettori, is bound to struggle on a seaming track.

As the Kiwis continue to patch themselves together after the continual loss of players to the Indian Cricket League, so Australia will eye this chance to massage their bruised egos. They're unlikely to let it slip.

Key Players

Australia: Left out of the final Test in India as the selectors deemed the Nagpur conditions inconducive to his style, Stuart Clark should find a seaming Gabba track more to his liking.

New Zealand: His limited international showings have hinted that Jesse Ryder is a big man for the big occasion. It doesn't get too much bigger than this.

Prediction

Unless the rain intervenes regularly enough to save the tourists, expect Australia to warm the cooling hearts of their fans with a convincing win.

Last Five Head-to-Head Results

2005: Third Test: Australia won by 9 wickets at Auckland.
2005: Second Test: Match drawn at Wellington.
2005: First Test: Australia won by 9 wickets at Christchurch.
2004: Second Test: Australia won by 213 runs at Adelaide.
2004: First Test: Australia won by an innings and 156 runs at Brisbane.

Likely Teams

Australia: Matthew Hayden, Simon Katich, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Shane Watson, Brad Haddin (wk), Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Stuart Clark.

New Zealand: Aaron Redmond, Jamie How, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Brendon McCullum (wk), Daniel Flynn, Grant Elliott, Daniel Vettori (capt), Iain O'Brien, Kyle Mills, Chris Martin.

Dates: November 20-24 - 10:00-12:00 local time (00:00-02:00 GMT), 12.40-14.40 local time (02:40-04:40 GMT), 15.00-17.00 local time (05:00-07:00 GMT).

Match Referee: Chris Broad
Umpires: Rudi Koertzen and Billy Doctrove