“You have to beat everyone regardless of who it is or where it is. Playing well against England at Lord’s a couple of weeks ago will give us some good confidence going into that game,” Finch told reporters in Manchester, after their narrow 10-run loss to South Africa in their final league game.

“After a tough tour, I’m just glad that hopefully the team could put a small smile on the South African supporters’ faces again,” du Plessis said. “I know they, just as much as we do, enjoy beating Australia. There’s always rivalry there, so a small smile, but we’ll take it.“

“Obviously, performances weren’t up to scratch where we needed to be in the first seven games. Inconsistent. But the last two games have been brilliant. We’ve played some remarkable cricket and it’s sad that it didn’t happen earlier.”