As a cricket nut (born and bred in Yorkshire) I decided to take the plunge and write for Sportingo because I'm getting tired of one writer who is leading us to believe that South Africa are going to turn over the Aussies later in the year.

Dearie me, what a load of bunkum. When the best in the world got beaten by England in 2005, this was simply a minor blip in the Antipodeans' quest for eternal world domination. And those of you who know anything about cricket will remember that following the loss of the Ashes, Ricky Ponting and Co took out their collective anger against all-comers and normal service has been well and truly resumed.

So when I read that the Proteas' recent series victory against England is just a stepping stone on their way to giving the Aussies a hiding home and away it makes me laugh. Even without Ponting, who seems to be carrying an injury which may linger (or doesn't he like touring Bangladesh?), the Aussies are way better than the South Africans in every department. Even without a spinner they still have better spin options than Paul Harris (Michael Clarke and Andrew Symonds are no mugs in the turn department).

The Proteas are nothing more than a half-decent outfit (let's face it, you only have to take the field with 22 legs to see off England these days) but they are no world beaters. Jacques Kallis was conspicuous on the England tour by his mediocrity and for me Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers do not inspire confidence. Amla will take one hell of a battering against the pacemen Down Under and De Villiers is nothing more than a reasonable one-day player.

In my view, the Indians ran the Aussies closer than the Proteas will. But for dreadful umpiring they could well have drawn the series in the winter and without a better spinning option than the ineffective Harris, it's hard to see how they will make an impact.

The stats may well show that South Africa are the second-best Test team in the world, but I'm sure my cricketing pals in India will have something to say about that. India are a much better team and are the nearest to being able to giving the Aussies a game.