Melbourne, Dec. 14 : Australian cricket coach Tim Nielsen has wasted little time in taking the attack to the South Africans.

Nielsen said his side was fiercely proud of its intimidating home record - unbeaten in a Test series since 1992-93 - and would ensure the South Africans did not have a comfortable time of it leading into the first Test, which starts on Wednesday.

"It''s about us making sure that when people come to Australia, they can''t just walk into here and expect to have it all their own way," Nielsen said.

"We haven''t lost here for a long period of time. That''s because we''ve played good, hard, aggressive cricket and we really do fight hard to maintain our standing in our own country. We enjoy playing in front of our own crowds, we love putting on a good show and entertaining the people, especially at this time of the year when people are on holidays," he added.

"We protect our own backyard very strongly . (and) you''d expect us to do well here. That''s the challenge ahead of South Africa at the moment, to come into our backyard and play well enough to beat us," Nielsen said. (ANI)