South Africa can play better, says Pollock

South Africa captain Shaun Pollock said his team was still confident of recording their first ever series win in Australia despite crashing to a 246-run loss in the first test on Tuesday.

Pollock said he had faith in his players to turn the three-match series around as long as they took their chances in the remaining tests in Melbourne and Sydney.

"We got outplayed by the better side on the day but we still believe that we didn't play to our full potential so we can improve," Pollock said.

"We still believe as a unit that we've got a side that's good enough to beat Australia on any given day.

"We are all disappointed with our performance, we wanted to play better and put the record straight. We've come here believing that we've got a good side and we want to show that."

South Africa succumbed before tea on the fifth and final day after collapsing to 128 all out in their second innings in pursuit of 375 for an unlikely victory on a deteriorating Adelaide Oval wicket.

They lost their last eight wickets for 111 runs after starting the day on 17 for two and their total was their second lowest against Australia since their readmission to world cricket in 1992.

NO SCAPEGOATS

"I thought we started off pretty well but when you're playing against a side like Australia you can't afford to drop catches and miss opportunities," Pollock said.

"In international cricket you just have to learn to put those things behind you. I think the spirits will be up when we get to Melbourne."

The South Africans were due to fly to Sydney on Wednesday to play a four-day match against New South Wales to prepare for the Melbourne test starting on December 26.

Pollock said there would be a number of changes for the match against NSW, including the return of veteran fast bowler Allan Donald, but said there would be no panic selections for the second test.

"I don't think we'll be looking for any scapegoats. We might make changes according to form or whatever but we're not going to blame anyone or drop them because we feel that they let us down," he said.

"It was a little bit disappointing the way we went down. As a team we were looking to play well. As a South African side we've always fought well as a team but we didn't perform.

"I think the guys all know where they've gone wrong. We'll sit down and discuss it but at the end of the day discussing it's only half the battle, it's all about getting out there and producing the goods and we didn't do that in this game."

Mail Cricket Editor