Dubai, Dec 15 (ANI): South Africa will overtake Australia at the top if it wins series 3-0; India will retake second place if it beats England in Mohali.

South Africa will go top of the Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship table if it beats Australia 3-0 in the three-match series that gets underway in Perth on Wednesday.

Graeme Smith's team gets its tour underway in earnest with two fast bowlers - Makhaya Ntini and Dale Steyn - in the top five of the Reliance Mobile ICC Test Player Rankings on a WACA surface that traditionally favours the pace men.

Sydney, Dec 15 : Australian vice-captain Michael Clarke has reinforced the worth of a spinner in Perth, despite the WACA's reputation as a spin bowler's graveyard.

Clarke insisted, though, that the decision on whether to play Jason Krejza instead of a fourth paceman would not be coloured by the result of last January's Perth Test, in which the home team fielded four quicks only for India to win by 72 runs, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

History has not been kind to spinners in Perth, where Indian legend Bishan Bedi is the only slow bowler to have claimed 10 wickets in a match, and the great Shane Warne did not gather more than six victims in a Test.

Sydney, Dec 15 : The withdrawal of Australian pace bowler Stuart Clark from the three-Test series has provided a huge boost for South Africa, but coach Mickey Arthur has warned his batsmen of the dangers of complacency against an attack that still features Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson.

The Proteas had identified Clark as Australia's main pace weapon, and with good reason, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The 33-year-old shredded the South Africans in his debut series, taking 20 wickets at 15.85 in three Tests and removing Jacques Kallis on four occasions.

Sydney, Dec 15 : Injured Australian fast bowler Stuart Clark can learn from the experiences of former state and national teammate Stuart MacGill as he faces the prospect of elbow surgery that may bring his career to an end.

MacGill twice went under the knife to have bone spurs removed from his bowling elbow and returned to international competition on both occasions, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Karachi, Dec. 15 : Pakistan's chief cricket selector and former leg spinner Abdul Qadir has said that India should tour his country and not deprive cricket fans across the globe of an enthralling contest.

Qadir told reporters here at the National Stadium on the sidelined of the Pentangular One-day Championship that no matches in international cricket ignite more passion and emotions than the Pakistan-India encounters.

Melbourne, Dec. 14 : Australian cricket coach Tim Nielsen has wasted little time in taking the attack to the South Africans.

Nielsen said his side was fiercely proud of its intimidating home record - unbeaten in a Test series since 1992-93 - and would ensure the South Africans did not have a comfortable time of it leading into the first Test, which starts on Wednesday.

"It''s about us making sure that when people come to Australia, they can''t just walk into here and expect to have it all their own way," Nielsen said.