Australia have been on the losing side for most part of this season but the eight-wicket defeat against South Africa in Adelaide was the worst of the summer, says skipper Ricky Ponting.

"By a long way ... right through the Test series and then the first three games of this series, we'd been right in the contest right up until the last over or the last couple of overs of every game," he was quoted as saying in an Australian Broadcasting Corporation report.