Australia's selectors have, as expected, wielded the axe ahead of the third test against South Africa in Adelaide on Thursday.

The home side's squad of 12, which was announced yesterday, includes four uncapped players and does not feature five of those who did duty in the second test in Hobart.

South Africa won that match by an innings and 80 runs which, coming after their 177-run win in the first test in Perth, decided the series and inflicted Australia's fifth consecutive loss in the format.

That run of poor form claimed its first casualty when Rod Marsh quit as selection chair last week, and now opening batsman Joe Burns, middle order men Adam Voges and Callum Ferguson, wicketkeeper Peter Nevill and fast bowler Joe Mennie have all been tossed onto the scrapheap.

Matthew Renshaw, Peter Handscomb, Nic Maddinson and Chadd Sayers will be vying to earn their first test cap on Thursday. All except Sayers, who is a fast bowler, are batsmen - an indication of the selectors' attempts to halt the batting collapses that have become a feature of Australia's recent play.

Perhaps the most surprising pick is the return of wicketkeeper Matthew Wade, who is considered a better batsman than Nevill but not as good behind the stumps.

"Matthew has worked extremely hard on his keeping in the past few seasons and we consider it to have improved substantially," interim selection chief Trevor Hohns said. "He is also a very valuable player with the bat..."