Australia captain Steve Smith is not happy with how their batsmen have played so far in the Test series against South Africa.

After two Tests, Mitchell Marsh’s 96 in Durban is Australia’s top score, while Usman Khawaja’s 75 at St George’s Park is the next best.

South Africa, on the other hand, have scored two centuries in the series. Rookie opener Aiden Markram crafted a fantastic 143 at Kingsmead, and AB de Villiers was at his best when he scored an unbeaten 126 in the second Test.

Smith voiced his displeasure at his team’s batsmen not stepping up in the series so far.

‘We haven’t got a hundred so far in this series, so that’s not ideal,’ Smith said after the Proteas won the second Test on Monday.

‘Mitchell Marsh probably deserved a hundred in the first Test to be fair, but if we’re getting batters scoring big hundreds it certainly helps us out a hell of a lot.

‘Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do that so far in this series, but we’ve got a good opportunity to turn it around in the next.’

The Baggy Greens skipper went on to add that when they got De Villiers out in the second innings, it proved that the South African was a mere mortal.

‘He’s just looked in complete control, hasn’t he. In both Test matches,’ Smith said. ‘[Second innings in PE] was the first time we have got him out conventionally.

‘But he’s still human, so it is about getting the ball in the right areas enough to him, which I think we haven’t done so far throughout this series.

‘If we do that hopefully we can get his wicket nice and early and get the pressure on.’

The third Test at Newlands begins on Thursday, 22 March.