An aching foot, a sore shoulder, and badly bruised pride.

A season of joy and happiness it might be. But it will largely be the two teams' responses to respective brushes with despair that shape the pivotal Second Test between Australia and South Africa when it begins in Melbourne on Wednesday.

Though the mood of the tourists remains upbeat on the surface, there's no doubt that they're hurting badly from the 246-run defeat that the Australians inflicted on them in Adelaide to assume a 1-0 lead in the series.

Having held their nerve for three days, they were brow-beaten and bullied into a corner by the locals on the closing two. Moreover, their bowlers looked largely powerless to halt an onslaught by the Australians' strokemakers, and the majority of their own batsmen simply buckled when application was required. They need more resolve in their batting, and far more penetration in their bowling, this time.

All of which makes Allan Donald's well-documented battle with form and fitness a hard one to stomach for the Proteas. Anywhere near his best, the country's all-time leading Test wicket-taker would be automatically entitled to a position in the eleven. Yet he's taken just one wicket on tour; is struggling to overcome a foot injury; and is being shown little sympathy back home by a set of scribes suggesting he never should have been sent to Australia in the first place.

He may lose out to Steve Elworthy in the battle for a pace bowling position, though the tourists are likely to explore a range of options in the lead-up to finalising their eleven shortly before the match.

The other complicating factor is that, if Donald isn't included for this match, then his chances of playing in the following Test in Sydney - which starts just three days after this one is due to finish - are slim as well.

The composition of the batting line-up seems similarly far from settled.

Boeta Dippenaar looked tentative in Adelaide, falling to catches behind the wicket off the pace bowlers, but a completely different batsman in the tour match against New South Wales in Sydney. He seems destined to play again in Melbourne and there is a lot to like in his approach and attitude; now, he must find a way of improving a Test record that has yielded an average of just 21.17 from his first 12 matches.

Jacques Rudolph is another young batsman who is pressing for inclusion on the back of good form in matches against the states. The left hander has no Test experience and, within a cauldron likely to be populated by more than 70,000 people on the opening day, this match would represent quite a baptism of fire if it were to be his first. Yet he has a sound temperament, a glittering array of strokes, and does not look especially disconcerted by either spin or pace.

The same unfortunately can't be said right now of experienced all-rounder Lance Klusener, whose problem with slow bowlers on this tour has helped provide him with scores of 8, 22, 18, 0 and 0 in five of his last six innings. He has often tormented Australia in the past in one-day matches. But he has looked a shadow of his normal self on this visit.

His captain remains one of his biggest admirers and the 30-year-old will probably hold on to a berth. But only just.

For Australia, such problems remain some distance away.

Though the absence of an injured Jason Gillespie (forced out by the development of pain in his right shoulder) suddenly presents a new challenge for an attack that hasn't always won plaudits this summer.

Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne rebounded magnificently in Adelaide in the face of criticism in the wake of the preceding Test series against New Zealand, but reviews of Brett Lee's efforts have not been so complimentary.

His only two wickets for the match were its final two, he bowled a string of no-balls, and his wanton series of bumpers at tailenders Makhaya Ntini and Nantie Hayward earned stinging rebukes in a range of quarters. In the days before Gillespie's withdrawal, there was conjecture that the blond speedster may even have been staring at omission from the line-up.

With either Andy Bichel or Brad Williams set to join the attack, he will now not only graduate to taking the new ball but will also be expected to help McGrath set the tone for the rest of the bowlers.

Bichel is a star at domestic level and captain Steve Waugh would be hard pressed to find a bowler in Australia more willing or determined. He is accurate, wholehearted, and moves the ball both in the air and off the seam. Yet it has been 12 months since he last played in a Test, and he has only been pitted against South Africa once so far at this level.

If Williams plays, the task will be even more challenging. State teammate Matthew Nicholson impressively weathered a similar experience - on exactly the same stage three years ago - but few assignments come bigger than a debut in a Boxing Day Test. The tearaway speedster will surely be permitted some early latitude in line and length if that fate awaits him.

On a specially-developed drop-in pitch, simply anything might happen in this Test match.

Though, as Australia chases series victory and as South Africa plots a way back, each team can already be assured that there will be no gain without pain.

© 2001 CricInfo Ltd