If anything can help Brett Lee forget the wild over that marred his tour of New Zealand and the health scare that followed, it should be the thought of returning to the WACA Ground, the arena that has brought Australia's fastest bowler more success, and perhaps more controversy, than any venue in the world.
Before Friday, Lee is likely to sit down for a heart-to-heart with his captain aimed at putting that whole shambolic episode behind him, when he slipped and bowled a beam ball at Brendon McCullum, followed up with a bouncer that sailed high over the batsman's head in an over that conceded 18 runs as Australia scraped to victory.
Having been overlooked for last summer's Test in Perth, where he has taken 24 wickets (more than at any other ground) at 24.5 in four matches, Lee will be understandably delighted to be let loose in Perth again, this time on South Africa.
"He loves playing here and the pace he's been bowling in New Zealand is encouraging for us coming here as well," said Australian captain Ricky Ponting, whose chat with Lee during the Brisbane Test inspired a Test renaissance that saw him lead the wicket-takers in the series against the West Indies.
If the subsequent New Zealand episode, which followed his near-unplayable spell in the first Chappell-Hadlee match, was a setback, Ponting believes it will not have unsettled him for long.
"I've got no worries that he'll leave that all behind. It (the beam ball) affects him at the time but he's been able to move on from it pretty quickly in the past. The reason it happens in one-dayers is that he's trying to bowl yorkers and the ball's wet and slippery and he's losing his footing," said Ponting, who said he may have to avoid bowling Lee at the death of one-day matches in those conditions.
"You can see by the ball he bowled next delivery how much it affects him — he's run in and bowled a bouncer that's gone over the batsman's head by a metre and a half; I mean, that goes to show how much he's thinking about it.
"I probably will have a chat to him. I know how it affected him there and then on those occasions when it's happened. Other than that game, his form has been excellent. He's bowling very well and he's happy within himself, so that's a good sign for us leading into the Test match."
Indeed, the problem is not likely to recur with an unslippery red ball in Perth, the fast bowlers' haven where Lee and Glenn McGrath are likely to be supported by left-armer Nathan Bracken ahead of the uncapped Stuart Clark.
- CHLOE SALTAU