Perth, Dec. 16 : South Africa''s mental conditioning coach Jeremy Snape, a former England off-spinner, last night disclosed that the Proteas players are attending secret psychological workshops to mentally torment their Australian opponents in the Test series starting from Wednesday.

The Courier Mail quoted Snape, as saying that he had instructed the Proteas to disregard past failures in Australia.

The man with a masters degree in sports psychology has hosted workshops for the South Africans where he insisted the battle of the minds would be easier without Australia''s retired champions.

Perth, Dec. 15 : WACA Ground curator Cameron Sutherland has pledged to create a pitch with far more life than the one encountered in Perth last January.

"It has a lot more life in it at the moment, a lot greener surface at the moment," said Sutherland said of the wicket today.

"Last year we had a Twenty20 final (right before the Test) ... and we were worried about damage to it so we actually got the Test wicket reasonably hard on the Sunday night and it was a longer preparation.

Perth, Dec. 15 : Australian pace spearhead Brett Lee has called on his side to take the fight to South Africa and draw "early scars" in the first Test beginning here on Wednesday.

Lee said on Monday that winning the first match of the three-Test series against the world No. 2-ranked team would be crucial and there''s nothing like getting early wickets to put the pressure back on the touring side.

Perth, Dec. 14 : Former West Indian pace bowler Michael Holding believes that the present South African pace attack is the most ferocious to arrive Down Under in almost 20 years.

The Sunday herald Sun quoted Holding as saying that quicks Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini, Morne Morkel and Monde Zondeki could expose Australia to the express speed generated by the feared Windies outfits of the 1980s and ''90s.

Australia has not lost a Test series at home since 1992-93, when West Indies trio Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Ian Bishop terrorised the home team with their cocktail of raw pace and steepling bounce.

Pe

Perth, Dec. 13 : South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher on Saturday became the fifth member of the team to go down with an injury.

Boucher made 13 runs in South Africa''s 8-320 on the opening day of their two-day game against a Western Australia second XI in Perth, could not take the field on Saturday because of a "mild ankle sprain", the Herald Sun reports.

Boucher, however, will be available for the first Test that begins next Wednesday.

Test No. 6 batsman AB De Villiers, who scored a brilliant 129 on Friday, stood in for Boucher and took two neat catches behind the stumps off Dale Steyn''s bowling.