Johannesburg, Feb. 23 : Australian opener Simon Katich has acknowledged that South Africa's fast bowlers led by Dale Steyn can once again be too hot to handle in the forthcoming series, but hastens to add that the Aussies have their measure.

"He''s (Steyn) obviously up there at the moment. In terms of pace, he''s probably one of the quickest going around, apart from Brett (Lee) when he''s fully fit. You throw in the other couple as well. They''ve got a well-balanced attack," Fox Sports quoted Katich, as saying.

"Probably the hardest thing for us in Australia was that they just kept coming at you all day. There''s no let-up, really. There''s no period in the game where you feel you can get on top of them for an extended period of time. They shut the game down pretty well if you do look like you are getting on top," Katich added.

The ability of the more experienced South African bowling attack to build up pressure was the difference between the teams in Australia, and it will probably be the key difference in this series.

Katich, however, says that the batsmen know what to expect from Steyn and his partners, and he has shared some of that information with debutant Phillip Hughes.

"Having batted a fair bit during that series, I know what they are probably going to come up with. We''ve seen that over three Tests, and now that this is so close, no doubt it will be pretty similar. It just depends what the wickets are like. Phil and I have spoken about that and obviously he hasn''t played them yet," said Katich.

Steyn, on the other hand, said he doesn''t think the South African bowlers need to target Hughes.

"We don''t need to put pressure on him," he said on website Cricinfo.

Steyn also agrees with Katich''s assessment of the bowling attack.

"We have developed a really good partnership. You will see that one of us is always standing at mid-off or mid-on when another quick is operating. We know each other''s strengths, plans and what spurs them on. It is a very good partnership. The one thing that is really noticeable about our group is the belief that has crept in," said Steyn.
(ANI)