• Three-test series starts at Centurion on Wednesday
• Our confidence is high after Ashes win, says Clarke
Michael Clarke has been much too polite to say so directly, but there is no doubt his Australia team are prepared for a far greater test over the next three weeks in South Africa than they received from England last time out.
Clarke enjoyed every minute of Australia's Ashes triumph, as he was entitled to after suffering so much during the previous three series. But he would regularly point out, when offered the opportunity to gloat, that winning a single home series, however emphatically, must be seen as only a first step towards returning to the top of the world rankings.
The Ashes victory lifted them from fifth to third, above England and Pakistan, and they could find themselves above India in second if MS Dhoni's team fail to square their two-match series in New Zealand. But South Africa are still way ahead, having consolidated the position they earned by winning in England in 2012 over the last 18 months, and Clarke agrees that his team still have everything to prove away from Australia having lost 4-0 in India and 3-0 in England in 2013.
At his press conference ahead of Wednesday's first Test at Centurion - where South Africa have lost only once in 18 Tests, and that after Hansie Cronje had offered England an enticing run chase - Clarke bridled at a suggestion that this would be the time to judge his players rather than after their Ashes cakewalk.
"I think the Australian players deserve a lot more credit than that," he said. "I certainly don't think it's someone else's poverty [the word used in the question to describe England's challenge] that allows you to win 5-0 in a major series.
"But I do think this is a great test for this team. We're playing the number one team in their own backyard. Where we sit on the rankings is a fair indication of how we've played in the last couple of years, and how South Africa have played in the last four or five years.
" They've earned the number one ranking. They're very tough to beat anywhere in the world but especially in their own backyard. It's a great challenge and opportunity for this Australian team. Our confidence is high, but we're coming up against a very good opposition."
There is one notable absentee from that opposition, however, as South Africa play their first Test since the retirement of Jacques Kallis. It should be no surprise, but is jarring nonetheless, that the Proteas need two players to replace their champion all-rounder, with Faf du Plessis expected to move up the order to take his position at No4, and Ryan McLaren and Wayne Parnell, two bowlers with plenty of international experience who have also played their share of county cricket, competing for the fourth-seamer-who-can-bat role.
Australia are also missing a substantially-built all-rounder, Shane Watson, who has suffered a calf injury to leave them with problems of balance. They are expected to respond by selecting Shaun Marsh to bat at No6, Tasmania's Alex Doolan having already been earmarked for a Test debut at No3.
The lower order will be unchanged from the Ashes, and Mitchell Johnson has even regrown his moustache in the hope it will help him inflict the same damage on South Africa that he did on England. He will have happy memories on his side as well as facial hair, having taken 16 wickets at 25 when Australia won a three-match series 2-1 in South Africa in 2009, the last team to beat the Proteas on home soil.
However Graeme Smith's well-oiled machine have lost only one of their last 19 Tests, a run including a 1-0 series win in Australia in late 2012, the teams having drawn an infuriatingly brief two-match series 1-1 in South Africa a few months earlier - when Australia did well to bounce back after being skittled for 47 in the first Test in Cape Town.
Even this three-match series is too short, and there is no sign yet in the controversial reforms of the International Cricket Council's future tours programme of anything being put in place to ensure heavyweights such as Australia and South Africa can cut and thrust over four or five matches. But any true cricket lover will surely be keener to follow the events in Centurion, rather than the Indian Premier League auction in Bangalore, over the next couple of days. Reported by guardian.co.uk 12 hours ago.
• Our confidence is high after Ashes win, says Clarke
Michael Clarke has been much too polite to say so directly, but there is no doubt his Australia team are prepared for a far greater test over the next three weeks in South Africa than they received from England last time out.
Clarke enjoyed every minute of Australia's Ashes triumph, as he was entitled to after suffering so much during the previous three series. But he would regularly point out, when offered the opportunity to gloat, that winning a single home series, however emphatically, must be seen as only a first step towards returning to the top of the world rankings.
The Ashes victory lifted them from fifth to third, above England and Pakistan, and they could find themselves above India in second if MS Dhoni's team fail to square their two-match series in New Zealand. But South Africa are still way ahead, having consolidated the position they earned by winning in England in 2012 over the last 18 months, and Clarke agrees that his team still have everything to prove away from Australia having lost 4-0 in India and 3-0 in England in 2013.
At his press conference ahead of Wednesday's first Test at Centurion - where South Africa have lost only once in 18 Tests, and that after Hansie Cronje had offered England an enticing run chase - Clarke bridled at a suggestion that this would be the time to judge his players rather than after their Ashes cakewalk.
"I think the Australian players deserve a lot more credit than that," he said. "I certainly don't think it's someone else's poverty [the word used in the question to describe England's challenge] that allows you to win 5-0 in a major series.
"But I do think this is a great test for this team. We're playing the number one team in their own backyard. Where we sit on the rankings is a fair indication of how we've played in the last couple of years, and how South Africa have played in the last four or five years.
" They've earned the number one ranking. They're very tough to beat anywhere in the world but especially in their own backyard. It's a great challenge and opportunity for this Australian team. Our confidence is high, but we're coming up against a very good opposition."
There is one notable absentee from that opposition, however, as South Africa play their first Test since the retirement of Jacques Kallis. It should be no surprise, but is jarring nonetheless, that the Proteas need two players to replace their champion all-rounder, with Faf du Plessis expected to move up the order to take his position at No4, and Ryan McLaren and Wayne Parnell, two bowlers with plenty of international experience who have also played their share of county cricket, competing for the fourth-seamer-who-can-bat role.
Australia are also missing a substantially-built all-rounder, Shane Watson, who has suffered a calf injury to leave them with problems of balance. They are expected to respond by selecting Shaun Marsh to bat at No6, Tasmania's Alex Doolan having already been earmarked for a Test debut at No3.
The lower order will be unchanged from the Ashes, and Mitchell Johnson has even regrown his moustache in the hope it will help him inflict the same damage on South Africa that he did on England. He will have happy memories on his side as well as facial hair, having taken 16 wickets at 25 when Australia won a three-match series 2-1 in South Africa in 2009, the last team to beat the Proteas on home soil.
However Graeme Smith's well-oiled machine have lost only one of their last 19 Tests, a run including a 1-0 series win in Australia in late 2012, the teams having drawn an infuriatingly brief two-match series 1-1 in South Africa a few months earlier - when Australia did well to bounce back after being skittled for 47 in the first Test in Cape Town.
Even this three-match series is too short, and there is no sign yet in the controversial reforms of the International Cricket Council's future tours programme of anything being put in place to ensure heavyweights such as Australia and South Africa can cut and thrust over four or five matches. But any true cricket lover will surely be keener to follow the events in Centurion, rather than the Indian Premier League auction in Bangalore, over the next couple of days. Reported by guardian.co.uk 12 hours ago.