Australian skipper Steven Smith is ready to face the South African cricketers on the field. Prior to the four-match Test series between the hosts South Africa and the visitors Australia, Smith warned South African players on their sledging theories.

The four-match Test series will begin from Thursday. Before the beginning of the series, Australian skipper Steven Smith sent a strict message in the South African dressing room.

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Speaking about the South African sledging, Smith said on Wednesday, “I might be able to tell you more after the first Test match, but if they do, go for it, it doesn’t bother me. A bit of a verbal challenge actually makes me switch on a bit more and gets me in for the fight. So they can go for their lives. I don’t really like to think too much about what gets them going. I prefer to think about what gets either myself or us going, and if that’s getting into a contest like that, then go for it.”

In his last Test series, which was The Ashes 2017/18, Smith was the Player of the Tournament after scoring 687 runs with the average of 137.40. Smith had scored 3 centuries in that series while his highest knock was 239 at Perth.

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Since 1970, Australia has never lost a Test series on the South African soil. On the other hand, South Africa have won their last three Test series on the Australian soil. When they had met in the Test series for the last time that was on the Australian soil in 2016 where South Africa had won the series by the 1-2 margin

Talking about this series, Smith remarked as an important series for them and they will pay back the hosts what they did in their last Test series meeting. Smith told, “Certainly it’s a big series for us. We’ve had a lot of great contests over the years. South Africa got the better of us at home so we’d love to get them back for that one.”