Well, it didn’t take too long on the fifth day for the South Africans to bundle the No. 1 ranking and give it back to Australia. The defeat was particularly ironic in that South Africa made the largest innings score in the match, ranking among some of the highest 4th innings scores in history. If they had only made a similar score the first time around, maybe they would have had a chance of saving the match.

Kudos to Australia from coming back from demoralizing Test and one-day series losses to SA at home, and then beating them in their own den with a bunch of debutants who performed brilliantly. This puts the previous South African win in a different light now. Maybe they were just lucky in the first two Tests in Australia. But the defeats helped Australia regroup and reclaim what is definitely theirs. They deserve it.

We, on this blog, have been guilty, like many others, of gloating at Australia’s recent troubles. But I would justify it as hoping for a more level playing ground for teams and greater competitiveness on the world stage. Think of how boring the 2003 and 2007 World Cups were. This is not just about Australia. There is nothing more nauseating than watching two mismatched teams play, which pretty much defines any match played by Australia in the last few years. This post by Philip Oliver misses that point.

For SA, maybe they can try to regain some pride by winning the last match. They still have a lot of work to do in the coming years to prepare for the next encounter with the Aussies. I would say that this series defeat would rankle more than the previous 3-0 whitewashes. Rarely have we seen the crown snatched so cruelly and so quickly from a new monarch.