“We’ll probably all have, I imagine, a week or two off bowling, still do your gym work, and then we’ll start building up for that series. I’ll probably have an extra week here if I don’t play the Zimbabwe [matches].”

Speaking to Fox Cricket in Mackay, Starc and Hazlewood indicated they were also expecting to play some part in the ODIs before the South Africa Tests.

Starc has played nine ODIs since the last World Cup, including all three against India at home last season, while Hazlewood has clocked the most among the big three with 11.

Cummins, who said he had a sore toe at times during the Darwin Test, indicated that the quicks had all got through the Bangladesh series unscathed. There was a brief moment where Scott Boland came into contention for the second Test but Australia fielded the same attack across both matches. Dismissing Bangladesh for 64 and 95 in Mackay did not put huge workloads into them.

Following the ODI series against South Africa, which finishes on September 30 in Potchefstroom, Australia will have a two-day practice match at the same venue on October 3 and 4 before heading to Durban for the first Test.

The tour will mark Australia’s first Test series in South Africa since the 2018 ball-tampering scandal although they have twice returned for white-ball series in 2020 and 2023. They had been due to visit for Tests in early 2021 but they were cancelled due to Covid. South Africa beat Australia at Lord’s last year in the World Test Championship final.

“They’re a really strong side,” Cummins said. “We had a big series against them here in Australia a couple of years back and we probably exceeded expectations, played really well, and then they got us back at Lord’s last year and outplayed us there.

“So it’s going to be big, obviously, in their home conditions [and] places we haven’t played Test cricket in for a while. So conditions are always a little bit unknown. Even the difference between Durban to, say, Cape Town can be quite different styles of pitches. It’s going to be great. That’s why I love playing Test cricket. It’s all different conditions, different opponents, different parts of the world. Can’t wait.”

Australia’s ODI squads for the Zimbabwe and South Africa series (as well as A team squads to visit India) are expected to be named next week with the Test squad likely to be announced separately during the early part of September.