South Africa are yet to arrive in Australia to begin their three-Test series, but the verbal warfare between the two camps has already begun.

Heading into the Australian series, South African coach Mickey Arthur has mentioned on a number of occasions his excitement regarding the group of fast bowlers at his disposal, while captain Graeme Smith has voiced his faith in the squad in its entirety.

Neither comments went down well with Aussie coach Tim Nielsen who was quick to remind the South Africans of their poor record in Australia of late.

"They better be ready. They're talking themselves up a lot at the moment," said Nielsen.

"There's no doubt they've got some good bowling but they've never won over here before, so they'd better play better than they've ever played before. We've got some high-quality players in our top order that are ready for the challenge of South Africa," he added.

"The great thing about these sort of series is that our senior players have shown time and time again when the game's on the line they're willing to stand up and do the job,"

"That'll be the challenge for South Africa. Talk is pretty cheap at this time of the summer."

Arthur appeared both bemused and amused by the Aussie's outburst, and did not shy away from continuing the verbal sparring

"Initially I thought he must have been misquoted but apparently not," Arthur said.

"I'm intrigued to know where we have talked up our chances, where did Tim see these quotes? All Graeme and I have ever said is that we are happy with our squad and we believe we have players capable of succeeding in Australia.

"We have also said that beating Australia on home soil is the hardest job in cricket and that, despite the retirement of several legends of the game, we expect this tour to be just as hard as ever," he added.

"Australia always find a way - just when you think there is a chink in their armour, they close ranks and prove you wrong.

"I have great respect for Tim, for Australian cricket and for this Australian team. Neither Graeme nor I regard ourselves as favourites and I certainly won't be drawn into any conversation which could be regarded as 'cheap'."

"We came to expect McGrath and Warne to 'target' certain players and to say they were going to hammer us," Arthur said.

"They made those statements because, by and large, they were good enough to back them up. Maybe it's become an Aussie tradition to make these big statements before an important series but, to be honest, it doesn't sound quite the same coming from the coach, does it?"

The South African squad will travel to Australia on the Saturday and play a two-day match against Western Australia on December 12 and 13, as well as a 50-over game against the same opposition on December 10, before the first Test in Perth on December 17.