Sydney, Nov 24 : Aussie cricket captain Ricky Ponting has reportedly revealed a radical shift in Australian selection policy, outlining the need to expose more players to international competition before crucial series against South Africa and England.

He supported selection of playing XI according to the conditions of the wicket

"I just think we've got to be a bit more flexible on our selection in different places. If you look through the depth of Australian cricket, I think there are guys who are going to be able to give you more in different conditions around Australia. I think me as a captain and our coach and certainly our selectors have got to start looking at those sort of options ... especially with some of the cricket coming up," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted him as saying after wining handsomely the Gabba Test against New Zealand by 149 runs.

He added: "We've got South Africa at the WACA, which will be a good place for the swing and quick bowlers, and then we've got Melbourne and Sydney, which will be the other way. Then we take [South Africa] on over there on wickets which we saw last time seamed all over the place. We have to start looking at the guys that are going to be suited to those 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."

Ponting further said: "If we go to Adelaide on a wicket that's very flat and might offer a bit of reverse swing, we have to pick guys who can use those conditions better. We need to look at every way you can to have the most impact. They are some of the lessons we all learnt in India. We could have been better equipped for those conditions and if we come up against conditions like that, in Australia or the world, we need to have guys who can play well in those types of conditions."

According to the paper, the selectors showed their colours yesterday by demoting Shane Watson from the XII for the second Test in Adelaide and recalling Victorian paceman Peter Siddle, while Ponting hinted that Jason Krejza would be added to the XI.

Ponting also said: "We'll get down to Adelaide probably on a better batting surface and the guys who got away and got starts up here hopefully they can go on and make bigger scores. We're going to need to be able to do that against better quality opposition, which we'll be facing in a couple of weeks' time. By no means are we getting carried away with the win we've had."

ANI