All-rounder Shane Watson and leg spinner Stuart MacGill have been included in the Australian team to face the World XI in the ICC [Images] Super Series Test starting at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday.

Watson replaced specialist batsman Damien Martyn, who was dropped after Australia's Ashes series loss, while MacGill took the spot of injured fast bowler Shaun Tait.

Middle-order batsman Brad Hodge was named 12th man while Michael Clarke [Images] moved up the batting order to four.

The World XI delayed the naming of their team until Friday morning but Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar [Images] was omitted from the initial 13-man squad.

Shoaib performed below his best in last week's one-day series in Melbourne, which the Australians won 3-0.

He conceded 110 runs without taking a wicket from 17 overs in the first two matches of the series and did not play in the third game.

Squads:

Australia: Ricky Ponting [Images] (captain), Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden [Images], Michael Clarke, Simon Katich, Adam Gilchrist [Images], Shane Watson, Shane Warne [Images], Brett Lee [Images], Glenn McGrath, Stuart MacGill, Brad Hodge (12th man).

World XI: Graeme Smith [Images] (South Africa, captain), Virender Sehwag [Images] (India), Rahul Dravid [Images] (India), Inzamam-ul-Haq [Images] (Pakistan), Brian Lara [Images] (West Indies [Images]), Jacques Kallis [Images] (South Africa), Andrew Flintoff [Images] (England [Images]), Mark Boucher [Images] (South Africa), Shaun Pollock [Images] (South Africa), Daniel Vettori [Images] (New Zealand [Images]), Steve Harmison (England), Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka [Images]).

Umpires: Simon Taufel (Australia), Rudi Koertzen (South Africa).