DARWIN, June 28: Australia captain Ricky Ponting was absent when the team assembled here on Monday ahead of the first Test with Sri Lanka, after flying home to visit a sick relative.

Cricket Australia released a statement saying Ponting had returned to Tasmania because of a family illness but provided no other details. Australia are due to start the first of their two Tests against Sri Lanka on Thursday and a spokesman told reporters that it was not known when Ponting would join the squad.

"He could be on a plane tomorrow or he might not be here at all," the spokesman said. Meanwhile, Australia leg-spinner Stuart MacGill said that he was shocked to be included in the squad after refusing to tour Zimbabwe in April on moral grounds. MacGill thought he would never play for Australia but always believed he had made the right decision in boycotting the Zimbabwe trip. -Reuters