Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes Glenn McGrath will benefit greatly from his participation in the ICC Champions Trophy.
The veteran paceman has not played for Australia since January after having a break from the game to care for his ill wife and has been working hard to regain his fitness over the last few weeks.
The 36-year-old had already been named in the squad for the one-day international series in Malaysia and on Monday was named amongst Australia's 14-man party for the Champions Trophy in India.
McGrath had asked to stay with the national team rather than play for NSW in domestic cricket, and although Ponting admits that the selectors have had to put some faith in McGrath's judgement, he is sure they will not regret it.
"You've just got to have a lot of trust in him," Ponting said. "He knows his body and the way he's bowling better than anybody and that's where we've left it with him."
"We've spoken long and hard with Glenn over the last few months about what he thinks his best preparation is and he thinks it is to go into the summer this way."
"There was lots of talk about whether we should take him and whether we shouldn't, if he's better off staying here and playing two or three first-class games."
"But at the end of the day he wanted to be a part of it and he'll get himself well prepared."
McGrath will therefore have just one multi-day game – a tour match against England with NSW – before the start of the Ashes, but Ponting is positive Australia's star pace bowler will be firing on all cylinders.
"I know how professional Glenn is and how much he wants to have a big impact on this summer and on his return to international cricket, so he'll be in top shape, there's no doubt about that," he added at the launch of Australia's new ODI strip.
"We've got two one-day series coming up and what Glenn has said about his preparation is that he wants to play as many games for Australia as he can."
"Every time he's been to India and returned from India, he's felt like he's been bowling very well. It's a hard place to bowl over there, with the conditions the way they are, but he thinks it's a great work-out for him and the rest of the bowlers."
"I know Glenn's been working exceptionally hard and says he feels like he's 25 again," Ponting added.
"Michael Clarke has actually been doing a lot of batting against him and says that he's doing really well, and I'm interested in getting a nice close look at him at training in Brisbane tomorrow."
The 18-man squad for the triangular series in Malaysia, which starts next Tuesday, meets in Brisbane on Wednesday.
