Usman Khawaja will fly to Brisbane to be on standby for Australia vice-captain Michael Clarke who is nursing a back injury ahead of Thursday's first Ashes Test.
Clarke is confident he'll be fit to play.
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Team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris confirmed 29-year-old Clarke was no certainty to play due to ongoing concerns over his degenerative back injury.
Kountouris said Clarke missed the extended session at Allan Border Field with a view to being right for net sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Gabba.
Khawaja boasts a first-class average of 50.24 in 24 matches. The 23-year-old's selection in the squad comes despite making 13 and 0 for Australia A against England last week in Hobart, where another contender, Callum Ferguson, also failed twice with scores of 7 and 10.
However the inclusion of Khawaja is a snub for young all-rounder Steve Smith, who was in the original 13-man squad but seemingly has been pushed back in the queue in favour of left-hander Khawaja.
"As there is some doubt over Michael Clarke's fitness for the Brisbane Test match, it was felt prudent to bring a standby player into the squad," chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch said.
"Usman has been added as a result of his strong recent domestic form.
"We intend to give Michael as much time as possible to prove his fitness and a decision on his availability will be made in consultation with the team's medical staff after the next two days of training."
Troubled by the chronic injury for most of his Test career, Clarke aggravated the problem when scoring a Sheffield Shield century for NSW against Victoria 10 days ago.
He missed the Blues' subsequent Shield loss to Tasmania last week to rest the injury.
"He's in the process of recovery now (and) part of the plan was for him not to have a bat today and hopefully he'll be available for the game," Kountouris said at the end of training in Brisbane.
"I'm reasonably optimistic but until he bats tomorrow and recovers from that, that's when we'll know how he is.
"Until he bats tomorrow we can't be absolutely 100 per cent sure that he's OK to go."
Clarke played no part in the squad's warm up on Monday, instead just walking laps around the oval before resting up.
While Clarke boasts that the problem has never caused him to miss a Test in his 64-match career, that will go on the line as soon as Tuesday according to Ponting.
"He's been in this situation a few times in the last couple of years, he's had these niggly things with his back and been able to come up most times," Ponting said.
"If we don't see him bat tomorrow then I think it will be hard to see him considered for the game."
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