DURBAN, March 14: South Africa go into Friday’s third and final Test against Australia determined to avoid equalling their second worst run of form in Test history.

Australia have won all five encounters between the two sides this season and, if they win the match at Kingsmead, South Africa will have lost six consecutive Tests for the first time in 90 years.

South Africa’s worst losing run came when they lost their first eight Tests — all of them to England between 1888-89 and 1898-99.

Their second worse Test run was six in a row — to Australia and England between 1910 and 1912.

Australia won the first Test in Johannesburg by an innings and 360 runs, South Africa’s worst defeat and the second biggest margin of victory in the game’s history.

That result prompted South Africa’s selectors to field three debutants for the Cape Town Test, the first time in 10 years the country had blooded that many in a single match.

But, of those, only batsman Graeme Smith can be confident of winning his second cap in Durban following an assured 68 in the second innings at Newlands.

Teams (from):

South Africa: Gary Kirsten, Herschelle Gibbs, Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, Neil McKenzie, Ashwell Prince, Mark Boucher (captain), Andrew Hall, Paul Adams, Makhaya Ntini, David Terbrugge. Lance Klusener (12th man).

Australia: Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting, Mark Waugh, Steve Waugh (captain), Damien Martyn, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie, Glenn McGrath, Stuart MacGill, Andy Bichel, Darren Lehmann, Shane Watson.—Reuters