By Mark Gleeson BBC Sport, Cape Town

McCarthy has a heavy schedule with his Portuguese club Porto

Benni McCarthy will not be part of the South African national side that will play against Australia in England on 30 March.

The formal naming of the squad is scheduled to be announced in Johannesburg on Thursday.

McCarthy missed the recent Cup of Nations finals in Tunisia because of a dispute with former national coach Ephraim Mashaba over the time to be spent away from his Portuguese club FC Porto.

Mashaba was subsequently sacked because of his intransigent approach to South Africa's overseas-based players.

It was expected that McCarthy would go back on his decision to retire from international football after Mashaba was removed from his post.

But the lack of clarity over a new national coach for South Africa plus a taxing schedule for his club, rules him out of the tie at London's Loftus Road stadium, home of clubside Queens Park Rangers.

Porto, who have rached the final of the Portuguese Cup, are also runaway leaders in their domestic league and are through to the last eight of the Uefa Champions League after beating Manchester United.

Fish is out of action after an accident at home

South Africa, coached by Styles Phumo, will see the return of other foreign-based players like Shaun Bartlett, who is South Africa's all-time leading goal scorer, Bradley Carnell, the German-based defender and goalkeeper Hans Vonk, from Dutch club SC Heerenveen.

The returning players had fallen out with Mashaba over their ability to feature regularly for the national team.

However, planned comebacks for English-based players Mark Fish and Quinton Fortune are ruled out for the moment.

Fish, who has not played for South Africa since 2000, cut himself badly in a fall on a glass table at his London home on Sunday night.

He is expected to be out for several weeks, according to his club Charlton Athletic, and even longer according to family sources.