Watson under the watchful eye of Aussie team doctor
Unchanged starting XI expected
Shane Watson is still restricted by a calf injury and appears unlikely to feature in the second Test.
Australia trained at St George's Park on Tuesday, one of two sessions the squad has at the Port Elizabeth venue before the potentially series-deciding Test starts on Thursday.
\Watson batted in the nets, but instead of taking part in the main fielding session he completed some short shuttle runs under the watchful eye of team doctor Peter Brukner.
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"We don't even know much about it. He's batting well, moving well when he's batting, but I don't know when his next bowl is," paceman Peter Siddle said after the side's first training session in Port Elizabeth.
"We'll just have to wait and see."
When news broke of Watson's calf issue 10 days ago, team physio Alex Kontouris suggested the plan was for the allrounder to "be able to train unrestricted by two or three days' out (from a Test)".
As such, it is unlikely national selectors will have to make a tough decision on how to fit Watson in their XI until at least March 1, when the third Test starts in Cape Town.
In the absence of Watson, Michael Clarke is likely to again throw the ball to part-time medium pacer David Warner.
Warner, who is now charging in off his long run-up instead of sending down leg-breaks at training, finished with figures of 0-3 from two overs in the first Test.
"It's been good fun working with him, he's actually a pretty good student," Siddle said of the dynamic Australia opener.
"He's been in the nets working on his little off-cutters and leg-cutters.
"He listens. He like to joke around, but he's switched on and he likes to work hard at anything he tries.
"They're coming out alright.
"We'll be looking forward to him taking that first wicket with medium pace - he'll live off that for a very long time."
Meanwhile, South Africa are ready to thrive on the challenge of facing Mitchell Johnson, according to Morne Morkel.
The Proteas assembled for their first training session on Tuesday and Morkel suggested there had been some honest discussions and feedback about the unexpectedly one-sided contest.
"There's a lot of things we've analysed and seen what we need to do and work on," he said.
Top of coach Russell Domingo's post-mortem examination would have centred on Johnson, who claimed career-best match figures of 12-127 and bowled with much venom to be the difference in the Test.
Throw in the immense pressure of needing at least a draw in Port Elizabeth to avoid their first Test series loss since 2009, and Morkel termed it a great challenge.
But nothing that would keep the hosts awake at night.
"I wouldn't say there's fear. It's just for us to really stick to our gameplans and come up with gameplans," Morkel said.
"It's about fronting up.
"I know our top-six guys are seeing it as a nice challenge.
"He's bowling well, he's got his tail up at the moment. For us, the important thing is not to focus on that and not to highlight it too much."