Ricky Ponting says this is his toughest year as Australia's Test cricket captain.
And with five wins from 13 matches and trailing 1-0 against South Africa, it's hard to argue with Australia's diminutive skipper.
Ponting's also up against history. In 120 years of Test matches, his country has never come back from a game down to win a series.
Defeat in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne would mean they'd lost a Test series in Australia for the first time in 15 years.
To top it all off, if South Africa can repeat their heroics from the WACA at the MCG, they'll clinch the series - the first time ever for the Proteas in Australia.
And to make matters worse for Ponting, with a 3-0 clean sweep Graeme Smith's men would also take the hosts' top ranking in Test cricket.
But batsman Mike Hussey says they can't afford to think about the difficulty of the situation, or critical comments made about players and selections in the wake of the first Test loss.
The main selection query for the Australians revolves around their underperforming bowling attack, particularly fast bowler Brett Lee.
