Aussies to play Proteas on World T20 eve

Australia will finalise their preparations for the 2016 World T20 in India with a three-T20I series in South Africa in early March.

Cricket South Africa today confirmed Australia will visit the rainbow nation ahead of the World T20, the only International Cricket Council tournament Australia has yet to win.

Aaron Finch’s charges will head to Durban on March 4, before traveling to Johannesburg two days later and finally Cape Town on March 9.

"The T20 Series against Australia provides for both teams the perfect lead-in to the ICC World Twenty20 which will be played in India immediately afterwards,” CSA chief executive Haroon Lorgat said.

The series will mimic Australia’s preparation for the 2014 edition where George Bailey led his side to a 2-0 series win in South Africa.

After the first match in Port Elizabeth was abandoned without a ball bowled, veteran Brad Hodge clubbed two sixes in the final over at Kingsmead to seal victory before Mitchell Starc inspired the visitors to a comfortable six-wicket win in Centurion.

Australia failed to carry the winning momentum to Bangladesh and the biennial tournament where they failed to advance from the pool stage after suffering losses to Pakistan, West Indies and India.

Between now and the World T20 proper, Australia have seven scheduled T20 matches against England (1), India (3) and South Africa (3).

And while domestic T20 competitions continue to build in popularity, the scarcity of international T20 matches has made team cohesion difficult.

Australia T20 captain Finch admits the lack of matches and lengthy duration between fixtures does make it difficult to form a unified, competitive T20 outfit, but is confident his troops can be the first Australian side to win the World T20 crown after five failed attempts.

“When you look at the amount of games we play compared to a few other countries … playing one game a series isn't really enough to get a team to gel together and a team to really settle on,” Finch told cricket.com.au recently.

“It's definitely no excuse – we've got some outstanding players.

“But when you don't have your number one team on the park all the time it probably reflects where our world ranking is (currently third behind reigning World T20 champions Sri Lanka and India, the runners-up in last year’s tournament played in Bangladesh).

“It's a format where I think we've got a lot of potential to be unbelievable in, we've got a lot of firepower in our team, we've got guys who are inventive – guys like Glenn Maxwell and Steve Smith who can just take the game apart.

“(And) with the ball we've got world-class bowlers (including) probably the best in the world now in Mitchell Starc.

“So there's no reason why we shouldn't be successful in this format, and it's something that as the captain of the side I'm really looking forward to the World T20 in India.

“Having reached the final once, I think we are ready to go one step further and win.”

Tour dates

March 4: 1st KFC T20 International, Sahara Stadium Kingsmead, Durban

March 6: 2nd KFC T20 International, Bidvest Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg

March 9: 3rd KFC T20 International, Newlands, Cape Town