DURBAN: South Africa captain Faf du Plessis believes Australia will head into next month's test series against his team mentally scarred following their one-day whitewash by the Proteas.

Australia suffered their first ever 5-0 one-day bilateral series defeat against South Africa month and will now host Du Plessis's side for three tests starting on Nov. 3, including a day/night game in Adelaide.

"Beating Australia the way we did - really convincingly, not giving them a sniff - will leave a bit of a scar on them mentally. I appreciate it's test cricket, a different format," Du Plessis told reporters.

"They will have a different team, probably a more mature team (than their ODI squad). So it's important to start well in that first test and remind them that we are in the same space as the one-day team."

Du Plessis, who will captain the team in the absence of injured AB de Villiers when they visit Australia, is wary of the threat posed by left-armer Mitchell Starc, who has picked up 115 wickets in 28 tests.

Starc, who was rested from Australia's ODI tour of South Africa, sustained a freak accident in training last month.

"Starc is a huge bowler for them. We'll need to make sure we get good prep in with left-arm quicks. He's obviously someone who can crank it up and get it close to 150km/h and then obviously he's very good with reverse swing," Du Plessis added.