By Andy Jalil at The Gabba, Brisbane

There must have been considerable deliberation on the part of Australia before deciding to award Nathan Bracken his first Test cap.

Bracken (left) proudly dons his Baggy Green for the first time

The final place in the team for the opening game of the home series against India lay between Bracken and Brad Williams, who took four wickets in his debut Test against Zimbabwe in October.

Williams had made it clear he felt he had done enough to hang onto his position, stating: "I thought I made the most of the opportunity that I got in Sydney."

Unfortunately for him, the selectors disagreed.

Their decision is not so surprising, however, given that Australia seem to show a distinct preference for having a left-arm seam bowler in their attack when one of quality is available.

Going back to the era of Bradman's 'Invincibles', who were unbeaten on their 1948 tour to England, one can see the weight that Bill Johnston - 160 Test wickets - added to an attack spearheaded by the great Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller.

Bowling at medium-fast, Johnston's provided prodigous swing, both away from and into the batsmen.

AUSTRALIA'S LEFT-ARM SEAMERS JR Hodges, 2 Tests, 1876 FE Allen, 1, 1878 A Coningham, 1, 1894 WJ Whitty, 14, 1909-12 WA Johnston, 40, 1947-54 AK Davidson, 44, 1953-62 I Meckiff, 18, 1958-63 AR Dell, 2, 1970-73 GJ Gilmour, 15, 1973-76 G Dymock, 21, 1973-79 MR Whitney, 12, 1981-92 BA Reid, 27, 1985-91 CD Matthews, 3, 1986-88 BP Julian, 7, 1993-95

After his departure from the scene, Australia were able to call on Alan Davidson, who again provided the movement that seems to come so naturally to left-armers.

Davidson finished with 186 wickets in days at an average of 20.5 when teams played far fewer Tests.

His career ended in the early 60s, and Australia had to wait for a decade for another left-armer to make his mark.

The player to do so was Gary Gilmour, who destroyed England in a 1975 World Cup semi-final by fully exploiting helpful conditions to return figures of 6-14 as the hosts were bowled out for 93.

Next in line was Geoff Dymock, a dependable Queenslander who would surely have played more than his 21 Tests had his time not coincided with the Lillee and Thomson era.

Mike Whitney and Chris Matthews were given chances in the 1980s, but Australia's brightest left-arm seam bowling prospect from that era was Bruce Reid.

His career was cut short after 113 wickets in 27 Tests and 63 in one-day internationals, and he was an interested obersever at The Gabba as Bracken received his prized Baggy Green cap, having been recruited as a bowling coach by India to help left-armers Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra.

Bracken has worked hard to improve his fitness and technique

Bracken, who was a member of the Ashes tour squad in 2001, but had to come home early because of shoulder problems, is the 15th left-arm paceman to play for Australia - and the first since Brendon Julian eight years ago.

He was most impressive in last month's one-day tour in India, where he took 14 wickets in six games at an average of 14 runs.

It was his ability, in common with several of his predecessors, to bring the ball back into the right-handed batsman, coupled with his height and natural angle of attack which so troubled India's top order.

"He's improved leaps and bounds" was vice-captain Ricky Ponting's view of his performance.

In the absence of Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee, Australia hope the improvement will continue.