A possible shoulder injury for Shane Watson has clouded selection issues for Australia ahead of the second cricket Test against the West Indies in Hobart later this month.
The all-rounder fell heavily on his left shoulder in stopping a boundary during Sunday's whopping 379-run Gabba win here over the tourists and was taken from the field for scans.
A decision on his injury will be made on Monday, but at this stage he is in doubt for the Hobart Test starting on November 17.
The bowling performance of left-arm seamer Nathan Bracken (4-48) will also give selectors more food for thought, with leg-spinner Stuart MacGill expected to be given consideration to bowl on the Bellerive Oval pitch.
If Watson is out, Australia may choose to play five specialist batsmen with wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist at number six, followed by pacemen including Bracken and two spinners, Shane Warne and MacGill. The Hobart wicket is regarded as a batting track.
"Stuart MacGill is obviously in very good form so I'm sure that will be discussed. If Shane (Watson) doesn't come up, that could throw the balance of the side out quite a bit," skipper Ricky Ponting said Sunday.
"Bracken has given us a bit more to think about. There's not going to be any easy selections for the Hobart Test match."
Michael Clarke (5 and 14 not out) and Simon Katich (0) failed again with the bat after Clarke (39 and 5) and Katich (0 and 2) both flopped in the Sydney Test against the World XI last month.
"I love having both of those guys in the side and I'm sure they'll bounce back and score some runs pretty soon," Ponting said.
"He (Katich) is probably under a little bit of pressure (after averaging only 27.55 in the Ashes series) but good sides carry those sorts of players through.
"If the other guys can rally around and do the job as we have done in this game, we'll hope that Simon comes good in the next game."
Ponting said opener Mike Hussey's debut had been "steady without being spectacular", scoring 1 and 29 as he twice fell with pull shots.
But he said Hussey could stay in the side if regular opener Justin Langer fails to recover from his broken rib in time for the Hobart Test.
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