It’s going to be hard to replace someone like Ricky Ponting. A player joint-capped the most times in Australian cricket history, with a batting average of 52.21 and a career total of 13,378 runs – the most ever recorded by an Australian and the second most in the history of the game.

Not only will his on-field ability be difficult to replace, but also his presence off the field and his role as a leader within the team will be near impossible to recreate. However, selecting his successor in the Australian top order is an inevitable process that John Inverarity and the Australian board of selectors will have to go through.

At the moment Inverarity would have four or five names on a shortlist to come into the side for the test match in Hobart against Sri Lanka on December 14. He and his fellow selectors must choose wisely, as a long-term replacement is desperately needed to fill the big shoes Ponting has left in the Australian side.

With the first match of the Ashes just eight months away, Ponting’s replacement must be allowed time to settle within the side and work their way into some form at test level. We can’t continue to chop and change right up until the first test in Nottingham on July 10.

Leading the race for Ponting’s position is Phil Hughes, a player already capped 17 times at test level.

The former Australian opener was dropped from the test side after a string of inconsistent performances last summer, with consecutive low scores against New Zealand culminating in his axing.

Coincidentally, it was the Hobart test that proved to be the final straw for Hughes.

Since, a move from New South Wales to South Australia and a switch to first drop has reignited his career. He’s amassed 518 runs at 51.80 this Sheffield Shield season, with a fighting knock of 158 against Victoria just last week proving to be his highest score thus far.

Hughes’s record at first class level this season far outweighs that of Usman Khawaja and Rob Quiney, who are also battling for Ponting’s position.

Khawaja, a more orthodox batsman that Hughes, has scored 438 runs at 39.81 this season.

Although a knock of 138 against Tasmania lifted his run tally for the year, he’s still scored 80 less runs than Hughes despite playing more matches.

Meanwhile Quiney has notched up just 68 runs in three Sheffield Shield matches this season, and failed to impress in the first two tests once called up for Australia.

Just nine runs in three innings, including a pair in the second test in Adelaide, did nothing to improve his chances of earning a recall.

The question remains for Hughes, like fellow Ponting-replacement hopefuls Khawaja and Quiney, is if he can squeeze in at number four. The Australian selectors may float the idea of batting Shane Watson at four so one of Hughes, Khawaja and Quiney can play in their preferred role.

A choice more out of left field would be the selection of 27-year-old Tasmanian Alex Doolan.

The right-hander has excelled in the season’s Sheffield Shield, scoring 409 runs in eight innings, with an average of 51.12. He blasted 149 against South Australia earlier this season, before following up that performance with scores of 95 and 60 not out in his next match against Victoria.

This sort of form earned him a call up to the Australia A side that faced South Africa in a tour match prior to the test series commencing.

Doolan batted down the order at number six, however combined brilliantly with the tail and made an unbeaten 161 against a bowling attack that included the likes of Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Rory Kleinveldt.

Doolan is a natural number four batsman, and for someone born in the exact same city as Ponting himself, his selection might not be so surprising.

The Australian squad for the Hobart test will be named in the coming days, and John Inverarity and co. have a massive decision to make.

They must choose a player worthy of donning the Baggy Green cap as Ricky Ponting has for the last 17 years: with pride and dignity.

Whether they give a reprieve to Hughes, Khawaja or Quiney, or a chance to the man born in the same town as ‘Punter’, the replacement must be given time and patience to build his own legacy within the team, and hopefully that will result in Ashes redemption in eight months time.

Riley Beveridge is a first-year Bachelor of Sports Journalism student at La Trobe University.  You can follow him on Twitter: @RileyBev