Cricket will do the talking: Proteas

South Africa's stand-in Test skipper Faf du Plessis says he expects cricket to do the talking on the field this summer against Australia.

Du Plessis isn't forecasting total peace and quiet during the Proteas' three-Test tour that begins with a pink-ball warm-up game in Adelaide this weekend.

But he believes the overt verbals from recent series between the Test superpowers has ended – mainly because Steve Smith is now Australia's captain.

"I have played against Australia now a lot of times and I think this (Australian) team is a little bit different than the team of old," du Plessis told reporters in Adelaide on Tuesday.

"The two of us play a similar brand of cricket now ... we more let the cricket do the talking.

"Sledging ... it's not as important these days. It's respecting the opposition and trying to win the game of cricket.

"I have gone through different stages of playing against Australia and certainly in the beginning it was different.

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"But now under Steve Smith they seem to play a different brand and a similar brand of cricket that we do."

Du Plessis' comments follow injured South African star AB de Villiers describing the 2014 Test series between the nations as featuring the worst sledging he had encountered.

De Villiers' account of the series differs from Australian paceman Peter Siddle's.

"He must never have been sledged before if that's the case," Siddle told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.

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"We were pretty tame, I think, compared to probably past eras and past teams."

De Villiers is sidelined because of an elbow injury, leaving du Plessis to lead South Africa on a tour starting with a two-day game against a Cricket Australia XI in Adelaide on Saturday.

The fixture will be played as a day-night match with pink balls - a prelude to the third Test in Adelaide in late November which will be the Proteas' initial pink-ball Test.

"To be honest with you, I have got absolutely no idea," du Plessis said when asked of his expectations of the pink ball.

"I haven't faced or thrown a pink ball around so it's all pretty new to me.

"I know some of the guys have pink balls in their kits, especially the bowlers the last while, just to feel them in the hand.

"But for me it's very exciting, it's a new thing for all of us."

Du Plessis and the South African squad will train on Wednesday with pink balls, ahead of the three-Test series against Australia starting on November 3.

"It will be nice to see how it plays like," du Plessis said.

"Obviously we have asked around a little bit and read the stuff that other teams have been saying about the pink ball but it's very new to me so no expectations yet."

The third Test will be a pink-ball day-night fixture in Adelaide and the tourists will play under those conditions against a Cricket Australia XI this weekend.

South Africa coach Russell Domingo said Australia's experience with pink-ball cricket gave the hosts some advantage in the third Test – but not much.

"Australia have only played one Test match and I think that lasted three and a half days," he said, referring to the first day-night Test against New Zealand in Adelaide last year.

"So I suppose they have got an advantage but they haven't played that much either."

The South Africans arrived fresh from a 5-0 limited over series whitewash against Australia which du Plessis described as "a huge highlight in all of our careers".

But he was wary of reading too much into the result ahead of the looming Test series starting in Perth on November 3.

"We do appreciate it's a different series, different ball, different teams, but we do come over here confident," he said.

"But we do have to start fresh, a clean slate.

"We by no means think we will rock up here in Australia and it will be easy, it never is.

"Australia in Australia is as hard as the Indian team in India.

"They (Australia) are an extremely competitive team and we will have to play some really good cricket to compete."