Pattinson hoping for second Test return

Australia’s national selectors are confident underdone paceman James Pattinson will be available for the second Test of the Qantas Tour of New Zealand.

Pattinson was a surprise omission for the two-Test series opener at the Basin Reserve in Wellington, which got underway today.

The Victorian expressed confidence last week that he'd be fit and firing for the clash but selectors still harbour doubts about his lack of conditioning.

Watch: Bird picked for first Test

"The selectors aren't 100 per cent sure whether he'd get through this first Test match," skipper Steve Smith said.

The second and final Test starts in Christchurch on February 20 and Smith expects Pattinson will be available.

"Selectors are confident that he'll be fit and available for the second Test match," Smith said.

"It's nice to just have that little bit of extra time. He can get a few bowls in in the nets over the next couple of days."

Whether Pattinson can force his way into the line-up is a different story, as quicks Josh Hazlewood, Peter Siddle and Pattinson’s replacement, Jackson Bird, made early in-roads into the New Zealand top-order this morning.

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Pattinson has bowled just 21.3 overs since the SCG Test, having sat out the Big Bash League because of sore shins.

He returned in last week's Sheffield Shield clash between Victoria and Tasmania at the MCG but was withdrawn by Cricket Australia after two days of play.

Australia Bowling coach Craig McDermott said Pattinson "wasn't quite right yet".

"We're better off giving him another eight or nine days to see whether he can get through the second Test match," McDermott said.

"We have to make sure he's 100 per cent before he gets a crack, if he gets a crack.

"He's got to get through some bowling, first and foremost and how he pulls up over the next seven or eight days. We'll take every day as it comes."

Before his departure for New Zealand last week, Pattinson suggested that "selectors and the medical staff are pretty happy" with where he was at.

Watch: Pattinson's pre-NZ press conference

"I was a bit rusty early on (in the Shield game) but then I hit my straps in the second innings," the Victorian said," he said.

"I'm feeling really good."