Shaun Marsh's dodgy calf costs Australian squad one more player Michael Clarke looking forward to challenge Australian cricket captain describes retired South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis as 'irreplaceable' ahead of his sides tour against the World's No. 1 side. PT2M41S http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-31mbl 620 349 January 29, 2014 - 2:21PM Australia is all but resigned to losing a second player from its 15-man squad for South Africa, with recalled batsman Shaun Marsh not expected to overcome a calf strain. A day after all-rounder James Faulkner was scratched and replaced by Moises Henriques because of a knee injury, Marsh, 30, stayed in Perth for treatment as Michael Clarke's men left for Johannesburg without him. A final decision was yet to be announced - his likely replacement would be Phil Hughes - but within the Australian camp it had all but been conceded on Wednesday that he would not be available for South Africa. With only a week until Australia's one and only pre-series warm-up match in Potchefstroom, time has not been on Shaun Marsh's side. Marsh's history of back and hamstring injuries does not help, and with only a week until Australia's one and only pre-series warm-up match in Potchefstroom time has not been on his side. Clarke said he wanted to have all players fit and available for that game, which precedes the first Test in Centurion, starting on February 12, and while back-up fast bowler Jackson Bird was tipped to join the tour party after wrestling with a sore back, Marsh's chances dimmed. Barring an unexpected and last-minute recovery, he will not cross the Indian Ocean. Whether the West Australian would have been a genuine contender to reclaim a position in the Test top order was, in any case, unclear, as Clarke nominated Shane Watson to stay in the key No. 3 slot. "I know he wants to bat there, he loves that extra responsibility," Clarke said. Watson's experience put him in front, he said, and he had played pretty well. I know he's copped a little bit of criticism that he hasn't made as many runs as he would have liked in the first innings, but who has? We'd all like a few more runs, that's for sure. Right now I'm backing Watto to have a fantastic series and lead by example. He's played a lot of cricket and he's a senior member of our team, and No. 3 is an important role. Australia arrives in South Africa with a fine record there. But Clarke's team has struggled against major nations away from home. Its last win on the road against either South Africa, England or India was in November 2011 at the Wanderers, a match in which a teenage Pat Cummins starred. Even in the afterglow of a historic Ashes summer, a clash against the world's No. 1 team shapes as a real test. Clarke said the retired Jacques Kallis would be "irreplaceable" for South Africa, but after the ordeals in India and England last year knows winning in foreign lands was the ultimate challenge. "A lot of teams in Test cricket are having success in their own backyard, but the greatest challenge is to be able to win away from home, so that's what we face right now," Clarke said. We're playing against a very good opposition ... wicket-wise, temperature-wise and country-wise there's a lot of similarities, so that'll help us become accustomed to conditions. But when you're playing in front of your home fans we've seen the benefit of that this summer, and that's obviously going to help South Africa. We've got to be on top of our game.