Australia opener Simon Katich says the tourists are raring to go at the start of their seven-week tour of South Africa.
Aussie opener up for challenge of South Africa series
Australia opener Simon Katich says the tourists are raring to go at the start of their seven-week tour of South Africa.
Australia open up their seven-week tour with a three-day match against a South African President's XI in Potchefstroom.
"We've settled in nicely and are getting used to playing at altitude," said Katich. "The guys have enjoyed getting used to that before the first Test in Johannesburg next week."
He said the Australians were not concerned that the President's XI was not a full-strength South Africa A side. The team is drawn largely from the Highveld Lions and the Titans, because the other four franchises are involved in the battle for the Standard Bank Pro20 final on Saturday.
"Whenever we go into a tour match, it's basically about preparing for the Test match," he said. "Looking through the squad, there are quite a few familiar names. We expect to use this match as good preparation for the Test next week, and there's always going to be good quality opposition.
"We identified from the recent Test series against South Africa that we need to work on building partnerships, so from a batting perspective that's what we'll be working on, and from a bowling perspective, we need to work on taking 20 wickets. We know there are areas we want to work on, and take that into the Test match.
"The batsmen will be looking to spend some time at the crease and the bowlers will be looking forward to getting some overs under their belts. They'll be looking forward to getting some hit outs and bowling two or three spells a day, after playing a lot of one-day cricket."
Confidence
Katich said there was a lot of confidence in the Australian camp.
"Obviously we were disappointed with the loss in Australia, but given that we won the last Test match and the Test series was closely fought, we take a lot of positives out of that series. There's stuff we can work on and improve on, and hopefully get the right results here," he said.
"We know it's going to be a tough series. South Africa have got a very good team, and they have some very experienced players. It's a matter of us having to adjust as quickly as possible to conditions here, and rectifying the mistakes we made in Australia.
"We've got some young guys, who are making their way in Test cricket. And a few of the young guys have really stepped up to the plate. Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle did really well in some of the Tests in Australia, and hopefully they can take some confidence from that.
"And batting, we can build on some of the good things we did do, and do them better in this series."
The Australian team is one of the most inexperienced ever to tour South Africa. Only three players - captain Ricky Ponting, vice-captain Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey have played Test cricket in South
Africa, and four players - opening bat Philip Hughes, pace bowler Ben Hilfenhaus, batsman Marcus North and 36-year-old leg-spinner Bryce McGain - are newcomers to the Australian Test squad.
