JOHANNESBURG, Nov 16: South African coach Mickey Arthur, has backed his team to take advantage of an Australian side which is low on confidence when the three-Test series starts Down Under on Dec 17.

Australia failed to defend the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India, losing the four-Test series 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 loathe to tempt fate but, hopefully, the other factor in our favour will be confidence.”

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 Australian side.

Arthur, however, 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.”

South African wicket-keeper Mark Boucher echoed the team’s ambitions of ending their Australia jinx and said the 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 team 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.”—Agencies