McGrath tells South Africans to toughen up

Glenn McGrath has advised South Africa to find the mental toughness of former players like Hansie Cronje or risk more humiliation in Test cricket's supposed heavyweight series.

Cronje may be the most disgraced figure in world cricket but McGrath said the former captain and equally tough ex-Proteas like Brian McMillan and Pat Symcox had a fighting spirit against Australia which the current team lacked.

Cronje led South Africa through two spirited series against Australia, averaging almost 40 with the bat, and his defiance was sorely missing from the Proteas team which crumbled to an innings and 360 runs loss in the first Test in Johannesburg on Sunday.

Rubbing salt in their wounds, Australian paceman McGrath said they were effectively beaten before they even arrived at the Wanderers on day one.

"I said at the start that I didn't think they believed in themselves enough to beat us and it was just proven in this game," said McGrath.

"When they play Australia they doubt themselves - we've beaten them even before they've taken the field.

"They're going to have to do a lot of work for that to change.

"When they first came back into international cricket they had some real tough, hard aggressive guys - Cronje, McMillan, Smycox, guys like that.

"They probably need a few of those in the team now to toughen it up."

That might only happen with the introduction of new players because the core of this South African team seems to have run out of answers against Steve Waugh's team.

Jacques Kallis, Herschelle Gibbs, Gary Kirsten, Shaun Pollock, Mark Boucher and even younger players like Boeta Dippenaar bear scars from their Australian experiences, most noticeably the one-day semi-final tie at the World Cup in 1999.

Australia advanced to the final in dramatic circumstances and the senior South Africans have since played like a team which never completely dealt with the disappointment.

"It's the way they go when the pressure is on," McGrath said.

"South Africa and Australia are fairly similar teams but, when the pressure is on us we get too aggressive but when the pressure is on South Africa they get a little bit too negative.

"They don't have that hard toughness. They're only a young team. They can build that in, but they definitely need that to beat us."

The most fiery South Africans in the first Test were debutant batsman Ashwell Prince, rookie paceman Andre Nel and tireless fast bowler Makhaya Ntini, who all had a relatively clean sheet against Australia until the Wanderers debacle.

Prince scored 49 and 28 in a mostly aggressive debut, Nel was still needling the Australians when the score was 5-500 and Ntini was unlucky not to get more than one wicket.

McGrath took 8-49 to boost his career haul to 385 Test wickets, passing Ian Botham (383) to move into eighth place on the all-time list behind Courtney Walsh (519) and Australian teammate Shane Warne (436).

"There's been quite a bit made of it recently ... and you do know where you're at," McGrath said.

"I knew Beefy's (Botham) stats anyway - 383 wkts - so it's always a buzz to go past a guy you grew up watching and admired so much."

The Australians head to Port Elizabeth tomorrow to prepare for Friday's four-day clash with South Africa A.

Australian selectors will rest four players ahead of the second Test in Cape Town on Friday week, clearing the way for Andy Bichel, Darren Lehmann, Stuart MacGill and young all-rounder Shane Watson to play their first matches on tour.