It was no surprise South Africa succumbed to Australia in the three-match series Down Under. Without a Test-worthy batting unit, it was always going to end in tears.

Australia claimed an innings and 182-run victory in the second Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) following a six-wicket win in Brisbane in the first Test on a “substandard” pitch. That match ended inside two days with 34 wickets falling.

Unfortunately, 20 of those wickets were Proteas players who only amassed 251 runs over two innings. At the MCG, South Africa totalled 393 runs for the loss of 20 wickets.

Or put another way, the Proteas lost 40 wickets while scoring a mere 644 runs over six days of actual play across the two Tests. That’s 16.1 runs per wicket.

The Aussies now have an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-Test series and won their first home series against the Proteas since 2005/6. The Proteas have now lost their last four Tests going back to the second and third Tests against England, and those defeats have all stemmed from poor batting.

Underlining that theme, the Proteas top five managed only 303 between them over two Tests, averaging 15.15 per innings. How can that be?

Of those, Temba Bavuma scored 133 at 33.25, with a top score of 65, which was pretty much in line with his overall Test average of 34.3. The other four (well, five as Theunis de Bruyn replaced Rassie van der Dussen for the second Test) didn’t contribute in any meaningful way at all.

Only wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne’s fight enabled the Proteas to not suffer complete embarrassment at the Gabba when he scored 64 on that spicy pitch. Verreynne added 52 in the first innings at the MCG and another 33 in the second dig.

Exposed

Blaming the first Test pitch had some merit as the Aussies also struggled, but on an MCG pitch that required application and good technique the Proteas top order were exposed – again.

Australia at least took advantage of a much better batting surface in Melbourne, scoring a mammoth 575 for eight. David Warner, who had a lean time of it before this series, scored 200 at the MCG. Alex Carey made a debut century and Travis Head posted a brisk 51 to add to the 92 he scored at the Gabba.

Although the Proteas managed 204 in their second innings at the MCG – avoiding an eighth successive innings of fewer than 200 runs – the Aussies’ bowling unit was depleted.

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Cameron Green didn’t bowl because of a fractured finger. Green took five for 27 in the first innings, while left-arm quick Mitchell Starc toiled through the pain of a dislocated left middle finger. He still managed to bowl 18 overs despite being in obvious discomfort.

The general malaise of the Proteas top order was evident in three run-outs in the second Test, poor shot selection and mindless cricket.

Starc repeatedly warned De Bruyn to stay in his crease at the non-striker’s end. The Aussie bowler would’ve been within his rights to run De Bruyn out.

“Just stay in your crease. It’s not that hard,” the stump mic picked up Starc telling De Bruyn. “The line’s there for a reason, mate.”

Roots of the problem

It only served to underline that mentally South Africa’s batters seemed distracted and not fully engaged in the moment. To survive and then thrive against a quality bowling unit requires mental as well as technical application. The top order displayed very little of either.

The roots of the Proteas’ batting woes are multiple. The rise of T20 cricket and the different batting needs of that format, relatively few Tests compared with the other top nations, a weak domestic structure, and coaching and selection issues are all part of the stewing pot that is the Proteas’ collective batting failure.

To add to the tension, in the past five years the side has lost the spine of its batting unit.

Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis have all called it a day in that period, while Elgar, who still bats at a respectable average of 38 as an opener, has not had a partner of note at the top. And when his form deserts him, as it has in Australia, it exposes the middle order to the best of the bowling conditions much sooner than it should.

Elgar was obviously frustrated after the match. The downward spiral the team appears to be in shows little sign of ending because Test batters do not appear out of the ether. With the odd exception, they are forged in tough domestic cricket over years.

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“Hopefully that spiral can come to an end come next season where first-class cricket will be looked after a bit better,” Elgar told the media after the match.

“I know that is in the plans that we do potentially have more first-class cricket back home. But yes, it’s a tough one. I’ve got to bite my tongue.

“We need to be playing more Test cricket and our players need to be exposed to this level. Even though we’re taking a hiding like we’ve had in the first two Tests here and the England series that we had, our players need to be exposed to that.

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“Unfortunately, we are all learning in the most ruthless and brutal way, but I think there are more learnings out of this than going out and playing against a team that’s of similar strength and we beat them.

“There’s a saying in cricket – you’re only one knock away from being back in form… got to believe that. For me, it’s not just a cliche. I think there’s a lot of merit in it. We have to still keep the encouragement and keep reminding the guys that they’re not crap cricketers – let’s put it that way and to be blunt.” DM