Partnerships an issue for Proteas

South Africa batsman Aiden Markram believes his side's inability to build partnerships must be rectified ahead of Sunday's ODI series opener against Australia in Perth.

The Proteas became the first side to lose to a Prime Minister's XI in five years on Wednesday night, convincingly beaten by four wickets with 13 overs to spare in Canberra.

The visitors were knocked over for just 173 batting first at Manuka Oval, with only two batsmen passing 40 in the defeat.

And after falling to 3-30 early, the Proteas struggled to find any momentum in their sole warm-up match before the three-match one-day series.

"I think the most obvious one is probably building partnerships," said Markram.

"We weren't able to string any big partnerships together tonight and you're never going to be able to post a big score if you're not going to have partnerships.

"From today guys can see how much work needs to be done going into the first ODI."

Opener Markram top scored for his side with 47 from 49 balls while David Miller also hit 45 from 55.

But both holed out on the boundary, with their wickets falling at the worst possible time as the South Africans looked to be building towards a solid total.

Concerningly for the tourists, the hosts had just three players boasting any international experience with Jason Behrendorff the only bowler to have previously played for Australia.

However, there were some positives for South Africa with quick Dale Steyn looking particularly dangerous in his seven overs.

The 35-year-old, who played his first international white-ball match in two years last month, took 1-41 but deserved more as he hooped the ball away from the right-handers at pace.

Kagiso Rabada also finished with 2-41 but should've had two more scalps if not for no-balls that denied wickets and turned the match.

"It's always good to see Dale swinging the ball at a good speed," Markram said.

"I've got no doubt he will lead our young attack and make it nice and exciting.

"I thought with the ball we were there and asking good questions and it's important to be able to do that for 50 overs. I thought on the bowling side we were decent tonight."

Australia v Proteas, Gillette ODI series, November 2018

First ODI: Perth Stadium, November 4

Second ODI: Adelaide Oval, November 9

Third ODI: Blundstone Arena, Hobart, November 11

Australia squad: Aaron Finch (c), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Alex Carey (vc), Ashton Agar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Chris Lynn, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, D'Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa

South Africa squad: Faf du Plessis (c), Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Imran Tahir, Heinrich Klaasen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Chris Morris, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dale Steyn.