Arthur wants to capitalise on 'bruised' Australia

Mickey Arthur, the South Africa coach, has backed his team to take advantage of an Australian side low on confidence when the three-Test series starts on December 17. Australia failed to defend the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India, losing 2-0, and Arthur felt this was South Africa's best chance of beating them in a Test series, something they have failed to do since being readmitted to international cricket in 1991.

"While the Aussies will undoubtedly be battle-hardened, they may also be feeling a bit bruised, physically and emotionally," Arthur told the Weekender. "I'm loath to tempt fate but, hopefully, the other factor in our favour will be confidence."

But Tim Nielsen, Australia's coach, said South Africa had said similar things before but were still to match up with the results. "I'm glad South Africa are already talking about us," Nielsen said in the Age. "Perhaps by doing so they might take a bit of focus off themselves.

"There will be a lot of people saying it's great to see the Aussies go down [to India], but we are confident that we've got what it takes to stay on top. Whoever wins that series [against South Africa] will need to be at the top of their game, and we're confident we can make a lot of improvements between now and then. It should be a great series."

South Africa play two Tests at home against Bangladesh, starting on Wednesday, in the build-up to their tour of Australia. Though they are scheduled to arrive ten days before the first Test in Perth, their only warm-up is a two-day match against a second-string Western Australia side. But Arthur was confident his team would be sufficiently prepared for the three back-to-back Tests.

"Yes, we would probably have preferred a harder run-in to the Australia tour, but you can make an argument both ways," Arthur said. "We should all be fit, strong, well conditioned and not feeling overworked or jaded.

"It's not ideal but the Western Australia squad will be in India for the inaugural Champions League so it was a question of taking what we could get. And rather than have a four-day game against a weak team and risk half the squad doing nothing meaningful during the match, we opted for a two-day game against what is effectively a second XI, and a week of intensive practice and training."

Mark Boucher, the wicketkeeper, echoed the team's ambitions of ending their Australia jinx and said they were high on confidence after the Test series win in England this summer. Another senior player, Jacques Kallis, recently said Australia were at their most vulnerable and it was time for his side to turn the corner.

"Just before the tour to England, I sat down with Jacques and we discussed where our careers were going and what we wanted to achieve," Boucher said. "We both had the same three goals: to win a series in England, to beat Australia and to win the World Cup. We have done the first and, if we all believe in ourselves and play to our potential, there's no reason why we can't achieve the second."