Hussey named vice-captain for Twenty20 international

Australia's big three of Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Adam Gilchrist have been rested from the Twenty20 international against South Africa at the Gabba on Monday. Damien Martyn has won a national recall after breaking his finger and missing the Chappell-Hadlee Series while Mike Hussey, who has been a fixture for only a year, was named vice-captain.

Trevor Hohns, the chairman of selectors, said he tried to keep the core of the one-day squad together but McGrath, Lee and Gilchrist needed to "freshen up" before the VB Series. McGrath was rested for the tour of New Zealand last month but Gilchrist was forced to tour despite being given time off by the selectors. "Brett, Glenn and Adam have worked particularly hard during the Melbourne and Sydney Tests," Hohns said, "and we want to manage each of their respective workloads carefully."

Hussey has been a revelation in both Tests and limited-overs matches in the past year and Hohns said the appointment was "a feather in his cap". "He has done an excellent job in the one-day format," Hohns said, "and we have every confidence that he has the necessary ingredients to take on this additional responsibility."

Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Bracken, Mick Lewis and Stuart Clark, who formed the fast-bowling attack that was thrashed for a world-record chase by New Zealand in the third Chappell-Hadlee Series match, have been retained. The match against South Africa is the first international Twenty20 game in Australia.

Australia Simon Katich, Michael Hussey, Ricky Ponting (capt), Damien Martyn, Andrew Symonds, Michael Clarke, James Hopes, Brad Haddin (wk), Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, Mick Lewis, Mitchell Johnson.