Australia's one-day team was thrashed 5-0 in South Africa earlier this month after the 3-0 Test series defeat to Sri Lanka on the subcontinent, leading former captain Mark Taylor to state last week that only five players were automatic selections for the WACA Ground Test - skipper Steve Smith, wicketkeeper Peter Nevill, quick bowlers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, and opening batsman David Warner.

But with the action moving back to Australian shores for the summer, which includes three Tests against South Africa, and three more against Pakistan, Matthews expected to see a much-improved Aussie outfit and said talk of wholesale changes was premature.

Matthew believes the likes of Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Usman Khawaja, Adam Voges and Joe Burns should all be retained on home soil.

"It's hard to say Khawaja and to a lesser extent Burns won't be in unless they have a horrific Sheffield Shield match or two because last summer they were just phenomenal with runs being scored, as was Voges," Matthews said.

"World cricket history tells you any side that plays at home has a distinct advantage. We are on our backyard.

"It will be interesting to see which direction the selectors go with their thought pattern on horses-for-courses or form.

"If you look at Australian cricket in the 80s and until mid 90s when boss Mark Taylor took over, Australia faced the West Indies and it was a very different skillset that was required to play against the West Indies.

"You saw blokes that were successful against a particular style of cricket but against extreme fast bowling there were very few people who had the tools to combat that.

"It wasn't always the team that was selected was fair enough on form, but always the right people for the right circumstances."

South Africa will bring its own lightning fast-bowling attack to Australia this summer anchored by Dale Steyn, and supported by Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel.

It's not quite as intimidating as the West Indies battery that used to terrorise batsmen the world over, but the Proteas will still be licking their lips at the prospect of tearing into an under-performing Australian side, although Matthews said the new-age state of Australian pitches could well take some of the sting out of the bowling.

"I'm not belittling anyone in any way shape or form but last year's surfaces ... were the flattest in the history of Australian cricket," Matthews said.

"Unfortunately for world cricket and Australian cricket we're not seeing the surfaces, the pitches produced that we once did.

"Why I'm not 100 per cent sure, you could probably take a stab at the fact that it's a commercial game, you want the match to go five days."