Selectors have pleaded for patience after coldly axing half the Australian Test team in the biggest carve-up in a generation.

Four cricketers – 20-year-old opening bat Matt Renshaw, batsmen Peter Handscomb and Nic Maddison, and swing bowler Chadd Sayers – could debut against South Africa on Thursday in Adelaide.

Wicketkeeper Matthew Wade has also been recalled, with paceman Jackson Bird.

Axed from the Hobart horror show are one-Test wonders Callum Ferguson and Joe Mennie, gloveman Peter Nevill and opener Joe Burns, with Adam Voges ruled out by concussion.

Interim chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns defended the brutal sweep, saying an emergency revamp was needed.

“We don’t expect an immediate turnaround but we have got a bit of faith in these guys now,” Hohns told reporters in Adelaide.

Yorkshire-born Renshaw – who moved to New Zealand aged seven before settling in Australia four years later – Handscomb and Maddinson will earn Test caps, with selectors swayed by their steely character as much as continued domestic run-scoring.

And Wade’s combative nature, and superior ability with the bat to Nevill, gets him another crack at Test cricket after three-and-a-half years in the wilderness.

“We certainly are looking at players’ characters and their toughness,” Hohns said.

“(Wade) is obviously seen as a tough competitor and that is what we’re looking for in our players now.”

The side is made up of six players from NSW, two from Victoria and Queensland and one each from South Australia and Tasmania.

Australia hasn’t unveiled four Test debutants in one game since 1978.

But Hohns said the drastic changes were discussed before Rod Marsh quit as chairman of selectors last week, following Australia’s fifth Test loss in a row.

“We haven’t won very much. We have lost a lot of Test matches of late. So we considered it was time to start to revamp and look to the future,” he said.

Hohns dodged questions about the merits of selection of Australia’s previous two Test sides under Marsh, but said regeneration was imperative.

“I’m not so sure it’s a bad crisis … it wasn’t long ago we were No.1 in the world,” Hohns said.

“Things haven’t gone our way, no excuses. We haven’t played well.

“But a lot of countries go through this, I don’t have any doubts.”

New @CricketAus teammates @phandscomb54 @MatthewWade13 & @maddo53 chat after team announced. @scg @abcgrandstand #cricket pic.twitter.com/jq9UU334ju

— Shannon Byrne (@shannonbyrne23) November 20, 2016

Hohns sympathised with South Australia’s Ferguson and Mennie, dumped after making their Test debut in Hobart, while Burns was dropped after one Test back in the side.

Offspinner Nathan Lyon was saved from the cull by fellow spinner Steve O’Keefe’s latest injury, a calf strain.

Queensland’s Renshaw and NSW’s Maddison are classy left-handers while Handscomb was the main beneficiary of the selection wheel of fortune: on a weekend when they demanded runs, he scored a double-century.

“It was definitely a bit of a surprise when I received the text message and the phone call this morning from Trevor,” Handscomb said.

David Warner is the only player in the new-look squad over 30 years of age.

Australian team for third Test:

Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Jackson Bird, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nic Maddinson, Nathan Lyon, Matt Renshaw, Chad Sayers, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade.

-AAP