Australia have recalled fast bowler Nathan Bracken for the opening Test against South Africa on Friday while the tourists wait to see if their leading batsman Jacques Kallis will be available.
Bracken replaces leg spinner Stuart MacGill in the only change to the side who crushed West Indies in Adelaide last month as the Australians predictably turned to their pacemen on the notoriously bouncy WACA pitch.
The tourists, who have never won a series in Australia and struggled in their warm-up matches, were forced to delay naming their team because of lingering concerns about Kallis.
The world's number one batsman has been unable to train for over a week because of an elbow injury he sustained in India recently.
"I'm not a betting man but it's 50-50 whether he'll play or not," South African captain Graeme Smith told a news conference on Thursday.
"It'll be a mutual decision whether he feels he can handle the pain or whether we think it'll be beneficial for him to miss the first game and have him ready for the next two Tests.
"It would be a big blow for any team but we're a confident team and we feel we've got enough guys in the team environment who can go and win games for us."
Kallis has not been able to hold a bat for over a week and did not pad up in Thursday's final practice session at the WACA nets.
Bracken will join Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee in a three-man pace attack after getting the nod ahead of the uncapped Stuart Clark.
WARNE DANGER
The left armer took four second innings wickets in the first Test against West Indies in Perth but was dropped to make way for MacGill on the spin friendly Hobart and Adelaide pitches.
"Conditions here will be fairly similar to Brisbane. I think the ball will swing a little bit for him here, and he's bowled very well in the nets over the last couple of days," Australia captain Ricky Ponting said.
Warne needs only two more wickets to break Dennis Lillee's world record of 85 wickets in a calendar year.
Statistically, the WACA is Warne's worst Australian ground, but Smith said his players were not treating him any less seriously.
"He's a big cog in their wheel, not only does he take wickets but he bowls a lot of overs and holds up ends for a long time," Smith said. "Our ability to play him is going to be crucial."
The South African opener also played down concerns about the unflattering form of his team after they were thrashed by Western Australia then salvaged a draw against the state's second string team earlier this week.
"All of us have kind of been biding our time waiting for Test match week," he said.
"The other games have just kind of passed us by because our minds have been focused on this. The team has really stepped us in the last couple of days."
Smith also scoffed at suggestions his team had been distracted by the war of words between the sides that has dominated the build-up, saying Australia were under more pressure than his own lineup.
"There will be incidents in the series where there will be heated moments. It's going to be big pressure situations and we want to be the team to come out on top of those situations," he said.
"It's obviously in our mind that they're scared of losing in Australia. There's massive pressure on them and we've taken heart from that and it's certainly given us confidence going into the Test match."
