Australia A start as favourites against South Africa A

Australia 'A', after their 10-wicket win against India `A' in the four-day game last week, will have an upper hand when they take on South Africa `A' in the opening match of the tri-series here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Wednesday.

The Usman Khawaja-led side, which has already spent three weeks in the city, will have another advantage over its rivals in that they have acclimatized to conditions. South Africa landed here on Friday and haven't got enough time to adjust, so the Dean Elgar-led side will be up against a settled outfit.

The Aussies are keen to continue with their good show and will not experiment much in the tri-series, said pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile. "We are taking to the tri-series after a good win in the Test series against India 'A'. We have the confidence with us and in terms of cricket, all the boys are ready to go.We have prepared well enough for the tournament.

"We have experienced players like Callum Ferguson, who had played a Test match here in 2013 and Chris Lynn, who had played for Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL, and Ashton Agar who has also played Test matches. Importantly , the team has benefited from sharing their India experience and learning from each other," Coulter-Nile said.

The Chepauk wicket produced some low-scoring innings in the recently-concluded four-day series between Australia 'A' and India 'A', more due to lack of application on the part of the batsmen on the flat track rather than any demons on the pitch.

The opening game of the tri-series will be played on the fourth strip, which is normally used for international matches, and it will offer great amount of bounce and initially favour the pacers. Spin played a big factor in the unofficial Test series but the same is unlikely to happen during the one-dayers.

Australia 'A' are planning to go in with three spinners on Tuesday but their strategy may backfire as the wicket will assist the turners only later on. "We have prepared a sporting wicket and it'll produce a lot of runs. It'll have decent bounce and initially assist the pacers but spinners will also get some favour afterwards," curator K Parthasarathy said.