Stern test awaits inexperienced Australian pacers

The opening salvos have been fired and it's now time for two evenly-matched teams to walk the talk as South Africa take on Australia in a five-match One-Day International series. Quinton de Kock minced no words when he wanted to point out that the visitors are seeking every single opportunity to go back home early.

That said, de Kock's words will probably only motivate Australia enough to take their game a notch higher. Steve Smith is back but the think-tank has some serious things to ponder upon ahead of the first game in Centurion. Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Peter Siddle, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Pattinson and Pat Cummins - Australia's frontline pacers - aren't in South Africa because of injuries or have been rested keeping the upcoming Australian summer.

The responsibility falls upon Chris Tremain, Joe Mennie, Daniel Worrall and Scott Boland to shoulder the bowling responsibilities with the more seasoned campaigner John Hastings. However, this also gives Darren Lehmann and Smith a chance to build bench strength for when the regular pacers come back into the squad, which will be a great opportunity for them and will hold the youngsters in good stead.

South Africa too have been jolted ahead of the series with AB de Villiers missing out after he complained about the elbow injury which kept him out of the recently concluded Tests against New Zealand. He's scheduled to undergo a surgery and has already been ruled out of the ODI and the upcoming Test series in Australia.

Australia are coming off a moral-boosting series win in Sri Lanka which showed the limited-overs sides' ability to adapt. South Africa, on the other hand, haven't been in best of forms. Apart from their resounding win against Ireland in the last game, they struggled in the tri-series in West Indies and failed to make it to the final. Needless to say, if the hosts fail to walk the talk against a relatively inexperienced Australian side, it will be the visitors firing more salvos in the upcoming games.

When: South Africa vs Australia, 1st ODI, 1700 IST

Where: SuperSport Park, Centurion

Team news:

South Africa: Temba Bavuma's ton set up South Africa's 206-run win over Ireland but it's highly likely the opener will have to make way for Hashim Amla, who missed the previous clash as he was away for personal reasons.

Australia: There's still no clarity over Shaun Marsh's finger injury. However, the visitors should go in with an unchanged XI that won against Ireland.

What they said:

"Four months in India takes a lot out of you and it was straight from there to West Indies. That's five months out of the country and constant cricket. It's tough. That's why I think some of the Aussies are blaming their fingers to go home early." - Quinton De Kock.

"I had seen bits of them (the new pacers). I had seen them a bit in their A games. I know their skills and obviously they are inexperienced at this level. It's going to be a great opportunity for them to come up against some great South African batsmen here." - Steve Smith.

Teams (from):

South Africa: Faf du Plessis (capt), Kyle Abbott, Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock (wk), JP Duminy, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Aaron Phangiso, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Rilee Rossouw, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir.

Australia: Steve Smith (capt), George Bailey, Scott Boland, Aaron Finch, John Hastings, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Mitchell Marsh, Joe Mennie, Chris Tremain, Matthew Wade (wk), David Warner, Daniel Worrall, Adam Zampa.