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The margin of victory in the fourth ODI match between Australia and South Africa was so overwhelming in favour of the tourists that it is obvious Cricket Australia has to stop its complacent attitude to the performances of everyone involved with the ODI side and start making some hard decisions.
One of the radio commentators called the South African victory a “shellacking” for Australia. This is hardly an exaggeration. Australia lost all its wickets scoring 222 runs. The South Africans lost two wickets and needed only 38.1 overs to score its winning total of 223.
Aside from Ricky Ponting, not one Australian player on the day looked much more than a good player. Ponting, who had some luck with an LBW decision and a caught behind, both of which were surprisingly given not out, batted splendidly.
He scored his 63 runs in 70 balls and looked every inch the great batsman he is.
But his captaincy is just not up to scratch.
Once again he did not have a clue when to use the batting power-play with effect. He should have used it when himself and Michael Hussey had established some sort of dominance. Instead, he left it until the end, once again, when Australia had only two wickets in hand, and when none of the batsmen were noted hitters.
On the South African tour, Michael Clark has to be upgraded from the captaincy of the Twenty/20 side to the ODI side as well. This will enable Ponting to concentrate on his batting in the ODI matches, which might give him a chance to work out better tactics for the Tests.
The youngsters at the top of the order, David Warner and Shaun Marsh, probably deserve to be perservered with, although I believe that it is time to bring the NSW prodigy Phillip Hughes into the Australian sides in every form of the game.
The striking thing about Hughes is that he is a run machine. In the Twenty/20 final against Victoria last weekend he blasted 40 to give NSW a great chance of snatching its victory.
How Cameron White stays in the ODI side remains a mystery.
After talking up White’s bowling, Ponting then proceeded not to bowl him at all. White is not a good enough batsman to be played solely as a hitter. Marcus North has credentials that keep on being over-looked.
Someone like Simon Katich even might be a better choice as a batting and spin-bowling all-rounder.
Shane Watson will be rushed back, or should be, as soon as he is available. Watson, remarkably, is the last Australian to have score a century in a ODI match.
Some time ago I expressed the view that Brad Haddin might not be the answer to the long term successor of Adam Gilchrist, not that this truly great player will ever be replaced.
Haddin threw his wicket away at Adelaide with a shot that suggested a lack of the steely determination an Australian wicket-keeper/batsmen needs to have.
Early on this season, too, I expressed amazement that Cricket Australia renewed the contract of the Australian coach, Tim Nielsen, well in advance of when the contract was due for renewal.
Cricket Australia said it was happy with the way Nielsen had performed his duties. I argued at the time that this was nonsense. The Adelaide debacle suggests that Cricket Australia needs to front up to the Australian public and explain exactly why it took such an uninformed decision.
Now we come to the selectors.
In my view, they lack any sort of insight into how to shape a side. They have differed about with their spinners. They have continued to pick players as all-rounders whose bowling (White and David Hussey) is not up to the standard required in ODI play.
But most importantly, they have not been able to work out that ODI cricket and Tests sometimes require different skills from players, and that some players can play both forms of the game and some only one form of the game.
The South Africans have mastered Australia this summer because they won the contests of selection and tactics. South Africa has won the battle, in other words, before the contestants have taken the field.
So the mantra after Adelaide, where South Africa has won its first ODI victory ever at the ground, is this: a new team, new selectors, new coach and a new captain are needed for the Australian ODI team.
Immediately.