STUART Clark is confident Australia will bounce back from the series defeat to South Africa, just as it did after the Ashes loss in 2005, and says the experience will benefit the relatively junior bowlers standing in for the first-choice attack.

Clark has had surgery on his injured right elbow and he expects to be fit for the tour of South Africa in February.

“While I don’t want to make any bold predictions, I’ll hopefully be right to go on the trip to South Africa,” Clark told the Daily Telegraph.

“Watching from the sidelines, you still hurt like all the other boys.

You want to be out there.” Injuries to Clark and Brett Lee over the past month have forced Australia to pick the inexperienced Peter Siddle and Doug Bollinger in a pace attack headed by Mitchell Johnson.

Clark was confident that the men could be successful at Test level.

“Results haven’t gone their way, and we can all point fingers, but I think they’re doing a really good job considering they haven’t played a lot of international cricket,” Clark said in the Age.

The SCG Test is Siddle’s fourth and Bollinger’s first.

In his three previous Tests, Siddle has taken nine wickets at 46.55, with a best of 4 for 81 at the MCG against South Africa.

Bollinger has played 48 first-class matches, three times more than Siddle, in which he has taken 151 wickets at 30.42.

Clark said the two had performed well considering their limited international experience.

“Experience is the thing that you can’t buy in state cricket,” he said.

“It’s the intensity that you need to get that experience – play the game in front of that sort of pressure.

It’s invaluable.” Clark said Australia would have a good team for this year’s Ashes in England despite the developing nature of the squad.

“We’ve got a good blend of youth and experience and that’s important because it’ll be a very tough series.

“I see things turning around very quickly.

It hasn’t been the most ideal series, but at the same time, a couple of losses, as we saw with the Ashes in 2005, started something new.
After those losses in the Ashes, we won 16 straight Tests.”