The Baggy Greens have struck back with a vengeance. All those talks of end of an era of Australian domination in world cricket will have to be revised though the Aussies are for sure no longer the all-conquering team of the past.
An inexperienced Australia under Ricky Ponting showed that they are still a team to beat though the capitulation of the South Africans in the first two Tests – in Johannesburg and Durban - was an amazing spectacle.

The Proteas seemed to have finally come out of the chokers tag when they won the Test series in Australia 2-1 in January. But when they were to give the final punch and grab the ICC Test Championships top spot they choked full time, that too in front of their home crowd.

The South Africans were in full strength while Ricky Ponting’s men were the most inexperienced Australian side in 20 years. Philip Hughes, Ben Hilfenhaus and Marcus North had not played a Test, Andrew McDonald had played one match and Peter Siddle four before coming to South Africa. 18-Test old Mitchell Johnson had to spearhead the bowling department in the absence of Brett Lee.
Besides the unavailability of Lee due to injury, there were no Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds from the Australian team which had lost to South Africa 1-2 at home.

With one Test to go in the three-match series, Australia (126 rating points) are assured of USD 175,000 in prize money for topping the ICC Test Championships table on April 1 cut-off date. South Africa have now 121 rating points and India 118. The result was, however, good for India which have a chance to grab the number two position and get richer by USD 75,000 if second-placed South Africa lose the third and final Test against Australia in Cape Town.

If Australia wrapped up the series 3-0 they will have 130 rating points and the Proteas will slip to third below India. But if the final Test ends in a draw with Australia winning the series 2-0, India and South Africa would be tied at the second spot with 118 ratings points, meaning the prize money would be shared equally between the two sides.

India will have also the chance to narrow down the gap as they start their three-match Test series against New Zealand on March 18. Ponting understandably feels he is in a unique phase of his career as the Australian captain.

“It’s certainly a unique phase in my career as a captain. To have a number of debutant, and a number of inexperienced guys, it’s something I haven’t been accustomed to,” he said. “When these challenges came up and this transitional phase first started, I looked at it as being one of the most exciting little phases of my career.”