Replacing the irreplaceable

Like Australia, South Africa are dealing with the absence of their star allrounder.

Unlike the visitors, they've been in planning for over a month.

When the opening match of the three-Test series begins on Wednesday in Centurion, Jacques Kallis will not be there.

For the first time in almost 20 years, the Rainbow Nation's aspiring allrounders have reason to believe they can become a mainstay of the Test side.

In the opening Test against Australia, it's expected either Wayne Parnell or Ryan McLaren will replace Kallis.

Left-armer Parnell played three Tests in 2010 but then fell out of favour, while McLaren featured in 27 one-dayers for South Africa in 2013 in what was a breakthrough year.

Both impressed Proteas bowling coach Allan Donald while playing for a Composite XI in a recent three-day clash with South Africa.

"Wayne bowled with good pace and good control. As did Ryan," Donald said earlier this week.

Coach Russell Domingo suggested after the warm-up game that he had a reasonably clear idea on the first post-Kallis XI, but would assess the conditions in Centurion before making a final call.

Domingo all but confirmed spinner Robin Peterson would play, despite the venue having a WACA-like reputation for being pace friendly.

"It's tough. I've always been a big fan of having a specialist spinner in my attack. It just gives a lot of balance to the side," Domingo said.

Perhaps the biggest void left by Kallis is at No.4 in the batting order, where he scored the majority of his 13,289 Test runs.

Faf du Plessis will shift up to second drop in a reshuffled order, with Domingo confident the switch will suit the 29-year-old.

"Faf batted at four against India when he batted all day. He's done it a lot for the Titans (in first-class cricket)," Domingo said of du Plessis, who scored a classy ton in the match against a Composite XI.

"It's not like he's not used to doing it.

"Whether you're batting at four or batting at five, there's not that big a difference.

"Occasionally you'll walk in at 2-10, but more often there will be some sort of foundation. So No.4 or No.5 shouldn't be too much of an issue."