Simon Katich is expected to play for Australia tonight - and Paul Terry is backing him to become a Test regular.

Left-handed batsman Katich is set to win his second Test cap in Sydney, after Darren Lehmann was forced to pull out because of an inflamed Achilles tendon.

The Aussie selectors may yet select a five-man attack, which would see Katich miss out, but the 28-year-old is almost certain to play his first Test match since his only other appearance - against England at Headingley two years ago.

Katich, who has his left-arm chinamen to thank for his recall, is used to the Sydney cricket Ground after moving to New South Wales from Western Australia last year, and is now set to win his second cap less than a month after his last game for Hampshire.

After scoring 1,143 championship runs for Hampshire last season he revealed that he would not be returning for a full season of county cricket next year because he wanted to rest in a bid to boost is ambitions with Australia.

But he is set to get his chance far sooner than expected - he has not played first class cricket since Hampshire's last game of the season at Derby as New South Wales do not begin their season until later this month.

Hampshire manager Terry, who is based in Perth, said: "It's amazing really because Kat is not even contracted to Cricket Australia. I expect he was the most surprised of all, but I fully expect him to take the chance if he plays.

"There's certainly been a lot of talk about the future of this Australia team, it's a worry that they're all around the same age. They're still very good players but they don't want everyone retiring at the same time, so if Simon gets runs it will be very difficult to drop him.

"He's a tough cookie and is very highly thought of over here. He's had a couple of years where he hasn't score many runs but he got back to scoring centuries when he was with us and I fully expect him to have a really good season over here with New South Wales.

"The Australia selectors have obviously taken notice of how he has done with Hampshire. His bowling came on a lot with New South Wales last year and Sydney is known for taking spin so with Stuart MacGill injured that could come in handy."

Katich was named in the 14-man Australia squad earlier this week for the second and final Test against Zimbabwe. Australia lead the series 1-0 after beating the Zimbabweans by an innings and 175 runs at Perth, thanks to a world record 380 from Matthew Hayden, another former Hampshire batsman.