Australia is due to announce if paceman Glenn McGrath will take the field for the tri-series match at the SCG against South Africa after missing Friday's game because of his wife Jane's latest battle with cancer.

McGrath said he would consult captain Ricky Ponting and the Australian selectors before deciding whether to play the match on Sunday.

But McGrath, 36, is adamant he will return to the Australian team.

Jane McGrath, who has successfully beaten breast and bone cancer previously, will begin radiotherapy treatment early this week.

Australia has 22 points from seven matches while South Africa (12 from six) and Sri Lanka (nine from seven) are battling it out for the other spot in the best-of-three finals series.

South African coach Mickey Arthur said on Saturday his players were shocked and saddened to see on the television news during the innings break at Melbourne's Telstra Dome that Jane McGrath was battling cancer.

He said his playing squad could only wish McGrath and his family good health and added he hoped one of the game's greats would remain in the sport and still be around for next year's World Cup and also Australia's tour of South Africa which starts later this month.

Meanwhile Arthur has blasted talented top-order batsman Herschelle Gibbs, telling the right-hander to choose his shots more carefully after he played what Arthur described as an "irresponsible" cross-bat slog to get out for 33 in South Africa's 80-run loss to Australia on Friday night.

Arthur said Gibbs would be promoted from No.4 to No.3 and the team hoped to build the innings around him and also for opener Graeme Smith to get a big score after struggling in the series, including a duck to Brett Lee on Friday night.

Arthur also promised to shake up his team's bowling attack after Andrew Symonds and Mike Hussey took the game away from the Proteas with a 109-run stand in 76 balls late in Australia's innings of 7-281 on Friday, including 60 off the last four overs.

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