SYDNEY (Reuters)
South African batsman Boeta Dippenaar says his team has finally learned to compete with Australia, but it is probably too late to prevent them from a 3-0 series defeat.

Dippenaar and Gary Kirsten both scored half-centuries in a defiant 149-run partnership that halted Australia's march towards victory in the third and final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

"Cricket has a funny habit of putting doubts in your mind and today went a long way to erasing some of those doubts," Dippenaar said after helping South Africa reach 209 for 2 in the second innings, still trailing Australia by 191.

"The situation that we're in now, it was a case of going out there and enjoying ourselves because we can't go any worse than the situation that we were in."

Dippenaar, who made 74 from just 116 balls, added that his team had learned an important lesson in dealing with the Australian bowlers, which he believed would hold them in good stead when Steve Waugh's world champions visit South Africa later this year.

"I think we did that today and that is going to help us a lot. We tried to play positive and put some pressure back on the Aussies as well and it worked," Dippenaar said.

Dippenaar, 24, also admitted his team had failed to handle the enormous pressure put on them by Australia.

"From a personal point of view, this has been the hardest cricket I've ever played," said Dippenaar, who made his Test debut against Zimbabwe in 1999.

"You hear a lot about touring Australia, but at the end of the day, it's very hard to prepare for something you've never experienced.

"The Australians are very ruthless in their approach and you have to be exactly the same if you want to succeed against sides like that.

"When the pressure starts to build and build and build it's like a dam wall, and at the end of the day you don't know how to stop the water getting out."

Dippenaar said the key to South Africa's improved performance in the second innings was that the players were relaxed. With nothing to lose, they were free to play their shots.

"The Aussies have put a huge amount of pressure on us and we haven't able to absorb that very well, but what we did today will just give the guys a bit of confidence because we were able to compete against them," Dippenaar said.

"We can't live in the past. There is nothing we can do to change what has happened but if we can learn from those bad experiences and turn it into a positive force it will benefit the side.

"We've been fortunate enough to dominate sides in the last three years, and all of a sudden a team is starting to dominate us and not giving us any breathing space.

"It's been very hard for us, but we can either lie down and sulk about it, or turn around and try and do something about it, and that's what we've decided."

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