Hilditch believes Johnson should keep Test spot

Australia's acting chairman of selectors, Andrew Hilditch, does not believe Mitchell Johnson should be dropped from the Test side for the upcoming series in South Africa. Johnson has been axed from the Twenty20 squad to take on South Africa next month but was retained in the one-day outfit, while the Test squad is yet to be named.

Depending on when Cricket Australia appoints its new selectors, the Test touring party could yet be chosen by the interim panel led by Hilditch. Johnson was far from his best during the recent tour of Sri Lanka but he enjoys the conditions in South Africa, where he swung the ball and found awkward bounce on the previous Test tour in early 2009.

"In Twenty20 cricket I think his form's not been the best," Hilditch said. "Mitch is disappointed. Obviously I've spoken to him about it. Sri Lanka was tough for him. The reality is he didn't do quite what we wanted in Sri Lanka. They were very difficult conditions for him and the way he bowls.

"Probably the best he's ever bowled was against South Africa three years ago when we played there and won. I think he'll be looking forward to the South African conditions and I think he'll do really well. From my perspective he's not under any threat at all [to be dropped from the Test side]."

The Twenty20 squad also did not feature the offspinner Nathan Lyon, who made his name in the format for South Australia last summer. Lyon made his Test debut in Sri Lanka and is likely to retain his spot for the South African Tests, but the selectors instead went for Steve O'Keefe and Steven Smith in the T20 side.

"At the moment we're concentrating on him in Test match cricket," Hilditch said of Lyon. "But obviously he'll want to push his path to be part of all three forms of the game. We're really happy with the way he went in Sri Lanka. We're just not sure that he's ready and hard enough to play three forms of the game internationally, so we'll concentrate on Test match cricket for the moment.

"As he gets more accustomed to the hard grind of playing international cricket I'm sure he'll want to push to play in all three forms. I don't think it's an unhealthy thing either to have three spinners in three different forms of the game because they're all pushing hard and they're all getting international experience, so that's a good thing as well."

The squad is likely to be the last, with the possible exception of the Test squad for South Africa, picked by Hilditch and his panel. He said it was one of the most exciting groups he had ever chosen, with the inclusion of two teenagers: Mitchell Marsh and Pat Cummins.

"I think this is one of the most exciting squads we've ever announced," Hilditch said. "You haven't seen young players of that sort of ability being added to a squad. You've got Patrick Cummins at 18 playing both forms of the game for Australia. A fast bowler with immense ability - it's really exciting.

"Mitchell Marsh is only in the Twenty20 squad but pushed hard for the one-day squad as well. These young players we think can be champions of the game and that's what we're trying to find at the moment.

"We're all as a panel pretty excited about what we've just done. I think the addition of these young players - I've never been part of picking a squad as young as this and picking a squad that has so many young talented players. These young players are ready to go and that's fantastic. I reckon it's been a long time since we've been in that position in international cricket and there's still a lot of good young players who aren't in these squads that deserve that opportunity."