MELBOURNE, Jan 19: Australia will bring in two new players for their return tri-series limited-overs clash with South Africa here on Friday, naming opener Phil Jaques and bowler Brett Dorey in the team.

Simon Katich was ruled out after suffering a groin strain in training Thursday and the selectors announced that Jaques, who made his Australian debut against the Proteas in the Boxing Day Test, would be his replacement.

Dorey will replace Nathan Bracken, who is being rested.

Test discard Damien Martyn will open the batting with Jaques while regular one-day opener Adam Gilchrist also takes a break.

Both sides have one win each so far in the tri-series and will be playing each other for the second time. South Africa won the first clash by five wickets.

Australian team physiotherapist Errol Alcott said Katich had suffered a low-grade groin injury and would have scans to determine how bad the problem was.

“Simon will undergo treatment and we’ll review the situation ahead of Sunday’s game in Sydney,” Alcott said. Australia take on Sri Lanka in that match.

Chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said the injury was bad luck for Katich but it would give them a chance to look at another specialist opener in Jaques.

Jaques has been in top form in the domestic Sheffield Shield competition but made scores of just two and 28 in his Test debut.

South Africa have their own injury problems with all-rounder Jacques Kallis on his way home for treatment on his elbow, joining pace bowlers Andre Nel and Makhaya Ntini.

Inexperienced all-rounder Johan van der Wath has been called from South Africa to replace Kallis while Nel has been replaced by paceman Dale Steyn.

But there was some good news for the South Africans with fast bowler Charl Langeveldt — who has a groin strain — able to bowl in the nets on Thursday. He now has a chance of playing in Friday’s match.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting warned his players to behave themselves after the recent citings of bowlers Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath and Gilchrist.

“There’s been a couple of things on telly, even though they’ve been just chats with umpires they just haven’t looked good,” he said.

“The perception of it is it’s a blight on the game, so I’ve just had a chat with the guys ... to make sure we are thinking about when we do it.”

Teams:

Australia: Ricky Ponting (c), Damien Martyn, Phil Jaques, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Mike Hussey, Brad Haddin, James Hopes, Brett Lee, Brett Dorey, Glenn McGrath, Brad Hogg (super sub).

South Africa (from): Graeme Smith, Boeta Dippenaar, Jacques Rudolph, Herschelle Gibbs, Ashwell Prince, Justin Kemp, Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock, Andrew Hall, Johan van der Wath, Johan Botha, Garnett Kruger, Monde Zondeki, Charl Langeveldt, Dale Steyn.—AFP