The build up to this year's ICC World Twenty20 in England escalates on Sunday when Australia tackles South Africa at the MCG.
The match heralds the start of the limited overs phase of the Australian summer and possibly the international careers of explosive New South Wales batsman David Warner and Queensland all-rounder Ryan Harris.
A crowd in excess of 70,000 has been tipped to walk through the turnstiles on Sunday and they are likely to see a relatively fresh-faced Australian side.
Hard-hitting New South Wales batsman David Warner and Queensland paceman Ryan Harris are in line to make their international debuts.
Players such as David Hussey, Ben Hilfenhaus, Shaun Marsh, Cameron White and Nathan Hauritz - who have all played little international cricket - will also get the opportunity to don the national colours at home.
Should Warner get the nod from selectors on Sunday or Tuesday he will become only the third person in the history of Australian cricket to play for his country before making his first-class debut.
The 22-year-old burst onto the scene this summer with a New South Wales record of 165 in a Ford Ranger Cup match followed by an electrifying 97 off 54 balls in the same tournament.
The extravagant hitting and fast pace of Twenty20 cricket will be in stark contrast to the battle of attrition waged between Australia and South Africa in the recently-completed Test series which captivated cricket fans from both nations.
The MCG crowd will be hoping they get more of a contest than the one-sided affair they witnessed in last summer's corresponding fixture against India when the tourists crumbled to be all out for a meagre 74.
And the Proteas should be well placed to deliver at least a competitive showing.
Unlike the Indian team, which featured many players who had not played in the Test series and thus were not acclimatised to Australian conditions, the bulk of the Proteas squad are experienced on these shores.
Of the 11 who played in South Africa's 2-1 Test triumph, only the injured Graeme Smith, Neil McKenzie and Paul Harris have already headed home.
Hitherto unheralded names such as all-rounder Albie Morkel, paceman Lonwabo Tsotsobe, teenager Wayne Parnell and batsman Vaughn van Jaarsveld will get their chance to ply their wares in the coming few games.