South Africa's captain Shaun Pollock has said that his side will adopt an aggressive attitude in their three-Test series against Australia which starts at Adelaide next Friday (Dec 14). "We have always played our cricket that way," Pollock said. "We believe we have a good enough side to compete with anyone, and we go out there and try to do that. To take a backward step is not going to help you in any sport arena, so we are not planning to do that at all."

Asked whether this extended to sledging the Australians, Pollock was in no mood to be conciliatory. "It's always been part of the way we have played against each other. It is very hard on the field. There is no quarter asked or given. It's all about doing the business."

Pollock's comments came after Australia's captain, Steve Waugh, defended his team's tactics against New Zealand. "You can call it sledging, gamesmanship or whatever you like," he said. "It just proves that it can be a part of the game, and it doesn't have to always be written up as a nasty part of the game. I think it's part of Test-match cricket."

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