Australian Cricket team is in South Africa on a tour that begins at Newlands in Cape Town today.

The sides do battle in two T20 internationals and three one-day internationals before the Aussies take on South Africa A in a four-day game in Potchefstroom. That match is followed by two tests in November, which will wrap up the tour.

Gary Kirsten's charges go into the limited overs matches minus captain AB de Villiers, who is sidelined after undergoing surgery on the broken middle finger of his left hand.

Star players Dale Steyn and Jacques Kallis have also been omitted from the T20 line-up, with Hashim Amla taking over the captaincy from De Villiers.

Australia, after so many years of being the dominant team in world cricket, is rebuilding and is a side on the up. The absence of South Africa's top players in the T20 contests is something that concerns former Proteas' fast bowler Fanie de Villiers.