Michael Clarke led from the front on Tuesday as Australia’s patient pacemen unleashed a week of boredom on their captain.
The tourists trained at Centurion for the first time since abandoning rain-swept Potchefstroom, the batsmen spending most of their time indoors in one-on-one net sessions with Darren Lehmann and Michael Di Venuto.
The quicks went to work in the outdoor nets, attacking a wet wicket and creating the sort of divots more commonly seen on golf courses.
Clarke decided to give them a moving target, batting stoically for under half an hour on a strip that looked blatantly unsafe.
After a brief discussion over the merits of using the potent pitch, bowling coach Craig McDermott and his colleagues decided a left-hander would be able to avoid the most dangerous spots.
They were wrong. Chris Rogers was next in but lasted one ball after Ryan Harris struck him in the chest, the pair agreeing it should stop there.
Rogers was not hurt and moved onto the spinners’ net, but it was a nasty indicator of what is to come next Wednesday when the first Test against South Africa starts at the same venue.
Australia will train at Centurion on Wednesday, however there will again be no centre-wicket practice due to the amount of heavy rain that has soaked SuperSport Park.
Harris was hoping his side would be out in the middle soon.
“It helps, centre wicket, if you’re not playing a game. It’s always better than training in the nets,” he said at the team hotel before training.
“As a bowler, you haven’t got the normal cues that you get when you’re out in the middle.
“There’s no net posts; you can feel a bit enclosed in the nets.
“Hopefully over the next couple of days – there’s plans that we can get some centre wicket.”
Alex Doolan, aiming to make his Test debut next week, did not train on Tuesday due to flu.