Heath Streak knew exactly what was required to compete against South Africa after Zimbabwe's 153-run loss at the Queen's Sports Club on Sunday. A new team.

South Africa's second murderous destruction of Zimbabwe in three matches confirmed once again the lack of depth and quality among the home country's cricketers, but it also served notice of a change of attitude among the tourists.

The more South Africa deny they are thinking ahead to the back-to-back series against Australia at the end of the year, the more you can be sure they are.

Having reached 414 for 1 at the end of the first day's play in the first Test at Harare, Gary Kirsten said the team had planned to "be positive and aggressive up front and score quickly".

The same clearly applied to the one-day side with Herschelle Gibbs and Kirsten hammering another hapless bowling attack for 136 in the first 15 overs. South African cricket hates to compare itself to Australian cricket, and hates to be compared. But the truth is that detailed analysis of the enemy has revealed why South Africa have not beaten them in four Test series and have a nasty habit of losing the important one-dayers.

The rate at which Australia score their runs has been identified as their greatest strength, as it allows the bowlers sufficient time to dismiss the opposition even when they are performing below their best.

In the one-day game South Africa's killer instinct has served them well but a tendency to set performance targets - even ceilings - may have limited them, even when those targets are set as high as 300 off 50 overs.

Australia are perceived to have no such limits and South Africa, too, are now extending their horizons and pushing themselves further than ever before. Hence the breakneck batting at Bulawayo on Sunday. Previously Gibbs and Kirsten would have throttled back after taking 43 from the first five overs and limited themselves to the standard max target of 90 from the first 15. But everything is now geared towards Australia.

Instead of asking "how good do we need to be to beat Australia?" - which would represent another limitation - South Africa have decided to be the best they can, a process which involves teams like Zimbabwe being trampled underfoot.

Neil Manthorp is a director of the South African sports news agency MWP Media Sport.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd