MELBOURNE, Dec 24: South African batsman Jacques Kallis is expected to overcome a painful elbow injury and play the second Test against Australia starting on Monday, though Justin Kemp could miss the game with a shoulder injury.

Kallis, the world’s top-ranked batsman, missed the drawn first Test in Perth with the “tennis elbow” injury though he was expected to return for the traditional Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

Kemp scored 55 in a match-saving century partnership with Jacques Rudolph on the final day in Perth, with captain Graeme Smith saying it had helped his side with their confidence going into the second Test.

“Australia has always been a scary and daunting task for South African teams,” Smith told reporters on Saturday.

“The public are very hard on South African touring teams... I think in the past South Africa has probably had a big fear of failure, whereas I think we have come to terms with that.

“We’ve really enjoyed our tour of Australia so far... We have expected a lot of verbal in the papers and a lot of things to be said.

“If anything, they (Australia) have been under more pressure than us going into this Test match.”

Smith said Kemp was struggling with an injury to his right shoulder but he was confident of Kallis playing.

“(Kallis) said that he got through yesterday’s session fine,” added Smith. “He felt it with one or two shots, cross-bat shots.”

Kallis’s return and Kemp’s injury may mean a reprieve for Ashwell Prince in the middle order and left arm spinner Nicky Boje likely to miss out with MCG curator Tony Ware hinting the pitch was not expected to take much turn.

Australia are using their third opening combination of the season with attacking New South Wales batsman Phil Jaques making his Test debut after Justin Langer was ruled out of the match with a hamstring injury.

Langer missed the first two Tests against West Indies with a broken rib, giving Mike Hussey a Test debut as a makeshift opener.

Hussey dropped down the order when Langer returned and will stay there with the selectors opting for a specialist opener in Jaques to partner Matthew Hayden.

“Boxing Day at Melbourne, the Boxing Day Test, it’s a massive day to everyone in Australia and I just can’t wait to be involved in it,” Jacques said.

Australia batsman Brad Hodge, fresh off his maiden double century in the Perth Test, is also making his first appearance on his home ground and said he was looking forward to the experience.

“I probably imagine I will be as nervous in this game as I was making my Test debut a few weeks ago,” said Hodge.

“I think the adrenalin will certainly be running playing on the MCG as a Victorian in a Boxing Day game.

“Everything’s familiar to me, it’s just a short trip from my house to the MCG and it’s just going to be a marvellous experience to walk out and feel the buzz.”

Teams (from):

AUSTRALIA: Matthew Hayden, Phil Jaques, Ricky Ponting (captain), Brad Hodge, Mike Hussey, Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken, Glenn McGrath, Stuart MacGill.

SOUTH AFRICA: Graeme Smith (captain), A.B. de Villiers, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Jacques Rudolph, Ashwell Prince, Justin Kemp, Nicky Boje, Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini, Andre Nel, Charl Langeveldt.