We were a little bit rusty - Kallis

Six months is a long time to be out of international cricket. Just ask the South African team.

In that break, some of them got married and others holidayed, but out of all those days, only three were spent training for the series against Australia. Professional cricketers have it busy enough and no-one can begrudge them a break, but when they appear as undercooked as tender pieces of fillet steak in the opening acts of an important series, as South Africa do now, questions will be asked.

After an unlikely comeback in the second Twenty20 against Australia, the rust seemed to have been shaken off. But, in the first ODI in Centurion, it leapt back on as South Africa put on another lethargic performance, showing distinctly less energy and enthusiasm than Australia.

In the field, only Lonwabo Tsotsobe impressed, and while Jacques Kallis and Morne Morkel were economical, the usual fire had been put out of the South African attack. And after opting to bat second, because of the possibility of rain, South Africa approached the challenge of chasing 233 with hesitation. Runs rarely came fluently against a more purposeful Australia attack.

"We're playing against one of the best sides in the world, to come off no cricket as some of the guys have done is tough," Kallis said. "It's the first time we've been together as a group, but it's still no excuse, we were a little bit rusty. We can improve in places both with bat and ball, where we perhaps let ourselves down a little bit."

Graeme Smith is a particular concern. He fell in predictable fashion to Doug Bollinger in the first Twenty20 after again wobbling awkwardly at the crease. He was out lbw to Bollinger in the first ODI as well but chose not to use DRS to review the decision after consulting Amla. "I thought it was hitting leg stump," Amla said. "In that situation you have to go with your gut but I should have known better." Replays indicated the ball would have gone over the top of the stumps.

Of the players in the South Africa squad, Smith has played the least cricket during the winter. He picked up a knee injury in the IPL in April and had surgery in August. He missed out on the Champions League T20, where he would have played for Cape Cobras, and participated in two club matches before the start of the season. He has since looked out of sorts, particularly against left-arm bowlers, and with the Test series looming, Smith would do well to play a first-class game or two.

Amla has had to cope with Smith departing early, the responsibility of rebuilding the innings and the captaincy, after AB de Villiers was injured. Familiar middle-order problems have added to his worries and, with de Villiers out for at least two more weeks, seem no closer to being solved.

With JP Duminy at No. 4, followed by the inexperienced David Miller and Faf du Plessis, even the addition of Mark Boucher has not made much difference yet. South Africa's young batsmen need experience and they can only get that by spending time in the middle, but when that middle is a mangled pit, created by the top order, from which they need to clamber out of, they can be forgiven for crumbling.

South Africa have to recover quickly because defeat in the second ODI will lose them the series. "We have to come out fighting, we'll take it one game at a time, where we have to win both to win the series," Kallis said. "We mustn't put too much pressure on ourselves. We've just got to go out there and play the cricket that we have done over the last while and hopefully put in a better performance than we did the other night."

Both teams admitted South Africa had the worse of the weather conditions in the first ODI and the balance should be more even on Sunday. Port Elizabeth has no rain forecast. "I don't think it'll [the pitch] change too much and it won't have the pace that Centurion had," Kallis said. "It'll be probably a bit lower but it'll still be a good batting wicket. The ground is a fairly small ground so I think it'll still be a fairly high-scoring game."

South Africa released Robin Peterson and Wayne Parnell to play in the SuperSport Series this weekend. As a result, the only change they could make is to bring in legspinner Imran Tahir for one of the fast bowlers, so the batting line-up is not shortened.