South Africa are in disarray heading into the final Test at Newlands. After playing five consecutive Tests against Australia with an unchanged XI, they suddenly find themselves with an unfamiliar looking line-up.

Not only will they be without their injured skipper Graeme Smith, but reactionary selections to the defeats at the Wanderers and Kingsmead will see two players make their Test debuts and a middle-order batsman open the innings.

The biggest talking point is the selection of Imraan Khan and Ashwell Prince as openers. The Khan selection is understandable as impressive performances in the domestic four-day competition meant he was first in line once Graeme Smith was forced out with injury. But the decision to ask Prince to open the innings is mind-boggling.

Even though the left-hander celebrated his return to the Proteas team with a double century for his local franchise, he shouldn't be anywhere close to the top of the order for a Test match. The South African selectors had plenty of other options once they decided to drop Neil McKenzie from the squad. Hashim Amla did an adequate job in the second innings at Kingsmead and AB de Villiers is more than capable of starting the innings off. Heck, even JP Duminy would've been a better choice as he has opened for South Africa in numerous tour matches.

As if asking Prince to open the innings wasn't enough, the selectors went one further and named him as stand-in skipper only to announce with red faces 24 hours later that Jacques Kallis will in fact captain the team.

The decision to turn to Kallis smacks of panic and lack of planning. The all-rounder proved during the England tour that he is not captain material. If they are going to stick with Boucher as the wicketkeeper for the foreseeable future, then he should've been appointed captain for the one-off Test as he has done it before.

The one area where South Africa will be slightly stronger in Cape Town is their depth in batting. All-rounder Albie Morkel is set to make his Test debut, coming in for his brother Morne. Although the decision to drop the younger Morkel will see South Africa short of a third out-and-out fast bowler, Albie can hardly do any worse than his out-of-sorts brother. At least he will be able to tie down one end with his medium pace.

The Australians must find the chaos in the opposition camp rather amusing. Mitchell Johnson and his fellow pacers have caused havoc at the top with South Africa having two experienced openers in their ranks and you can't even begin to imagine how things will go with a debutant and a middle-order batsman opening the innings.

The visitors haven't had it this good in quite a while. They've been chopping and changing ever since the retirement of Glenn McGrath, Justin Langer and Shane Warne, but suddenly things are falling into place.

They have an impressive batting line-up and can even call on Johnson should things not go according to plan. Their front-line attack of Johnson, Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus have pretty much picked up wickets at will while part-timers Simon Katich and Marcus North have also chipped in.

Only one question mark remains about Australia's starting XI. Will they stick with Andrew McDonald, who has had a poor time with the bat but hasn't done too badly with the ball, or will they finally hand a debut to leg-spinner Bryce McGain? With the Newlands track providing some aid to the spinners, McGain may well get to wear the baggy green for the first time as the Aussies look for the clean sweep.

If Australia are victorious in Cape Town, they will win the six-match Test series 4-2. South Africa will be eager to salvage a 3-3 draw and they can take a leaf out of the visitors' book on how to win a dead rubber.

Key Men

South Africa: Jacques Kallis appeared to finally regain his form in the second Test at Kingsmead while his bowling has been top notch so far in the series, picking up wickets whenever his captain desperately needed a breakthrough. It will be interesting to see how the added responsibility will affect his batting and bowling.

Australia: With South Africa opting for an opening pair of Khan and Prince, Mitchell Johnson could once again run riot. At least Hashim Amla, Kallis and de Villiers are by now used to coming in after just a few overs.

Prediction

While the South Africans look to avoid yet another whitewash at the hands of Australia at home, it is hard to see the visitors slacking off. They are on a roll and look like they are building another empire.

Last Five Results

Second Test: Australia won by 175 runs at Durban
2008/09: First Test: Australia won by 162 runs at Johannesburg
2008/09: Third Test: Australia won by 103 runs at Sydney
2008/09: Second Test: South Africa won by 9 wickets at Melbourne
2008/09: South Africa won by six wickets at Perth

Probable Teams:

South Africa: Imraan Khan, Ashwell Prince, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Mark Boucher, Albie Morkel, Paul Harris, Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini

Australia: Phillip Hughes, Simon Katich, Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke, Marcus North, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Bryce McGain, Ben Hilfenhaus

Dates: 19-23 March
Morning session: 10:30-12:30 (08:30-10:30 GMT)
Afternoon session: 13:10-15:10 (11:10-13:10 GMT)
Evening session: 15:30-17:30 (13:30-15:30 GMT)

Match referee: Jeff Crowe
Umpires: Asad Rauf and Steve Bucknor
Third umpire: Billy Bowden

Shahida Jacobs