TEST captain Michael Clarke is adamant Shane Watson will continue to open for Australia in South Africa, a tour he believes is as tough as any in international cricket.Watson hasn't scored a 50 in any of his seven Test innings this year and his average of 17.4 in the recent three-match series against Sri Lanka was the lowest of Australia's specialist batsmen.Long adamant he wants to remain an opener, the gifted allrounder admitted this week he was giving more thought to a possible return to the middle order because of a recently increased bowling workload.Watson slogged through a combined 46 overs of his fast medium pace bowling in the last two Test innings in Sri Lanka including a Test career-high 26 in the first innings of the final match.However, Clarke reiterated he wasn't contemplating moving Watson back to the middle order.Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar."My mind hasn't changed since Sri Lanka," Clarke said in Sydney yesterday at the unveiling of the Australian team's new apparel."Right now I think he's best for the team opening the batting and that's certainly where he'll bat in South Africa.The Australians play two Twenty20, three one-day and two Test matches against South Africa starting in mid-October. South Africa sits second in the world Test rankings, behind only England and two places above Australia."They are a very good team and they are ranked very high in all forms of the game." Clarke said. "They have had a lot of success in their own country, so it's as tough a challenge as you face in world cricket, no doubt.Australia enjoyed a 2-1 win in its last series in South Africa in 2009, but Clarke suggested his side would face a more experienced and very skilled team this time."They are going to be tough to beat no doubt," Clarke said."Playing anybody on their home soil is always harder because you know your conditions so well but . . . I'm confident if we're at our best, we can beat any team anywhere in the world.While his players have been split between Australia and the Champions League Twenty20 tournament in India since leaving Sri Lanka, Clarke emphasised they would all be working hard and there would be no "slacking off" in the leadup to South Africa.Injury-prone paceman Ryan Harris was upbeat about his prospects for the tour after missing the last Test against Sri Lanka last month with a hamstring problem."I had my first bowl yesterday and everything was good. I ran a bit last week, so everything is on track," Harris said.
