One of the most humbling days in Australian cricket history

IT was one of the most humbling days in recent Australian cricket history - but it was coming.

IT was one of the most humbling days in recent Australian cricket history - but it was coming.

Australia were simply slaughtered with bat and ball yesterday.

Despite their domination of the drawn Tests in Brisbane and Adelaide, Australia are a side with a lot of moving parts with a reliance on too few.

Yesterday was the 17th time in Michael Clarke's 17 Tests as captain Australia were three wickets down for less than 100 - at one point they didn't look like making 100.

Many times they have been three for less than 50.

There are workaholic plasterers who have covered less cracks than Clarke over the past year.

For once, yesterday, there was no bail out man.

As for the bowlers, rarely has an Australian attack been so brutally dismantled as they were yesterday.

It was numbing to watch.

John Hastings was force-fed the humility of having Hashim Amla use his feet to his medium pacers in a bid to throw out his line and length.

Normally an effective stopper, he was treated like a park bowler.

Mitchell Starc was pasted everywhere as if it was a Twenty20 game and for once Nathan Lyon could not plug a dam wall with more leaks than Watergate.

All the steroetypes we say about South Africans being defensive under pressure vanished in one of the most destructive afternoon's batting the game has seen.

And that, on a wicket in which Australia could not get out of first gear. Stunning.

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Warner

AUSTRALIA is going to just have to take a deep breath and accept the journey with Dave Warner in Test cricket will be scattered with diamonds and doughnuts.

Warner did not adapt well to the challenges of the Perth pitch. He struggled to let the ball go and play the measured innings, which was a world away from the cavalier century he slapped on the table in Adelaide.

He was dismissed from the first ball he faced from Dale Steyn yesterday, slashing outside off-stump, without giving himself time to acclimatise to the speed of the bowlers and the pitch.

But if you accept his cavalier centuries you have to accept the same derring-do will occasionally get him into trouble.

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WARNER'S dismissal, which was eventually sanctioned by the third umpire, was a victory for common sense.

Warner waited a few contemplative seconds before deciding to talk to Nathan Lyon and review the decision, which is always an unfortunate look.

Warner is among the most confident of players.

If he was certain he missed it you'd think it would have been an instant appeal.

Hot spot may have struggled to find an edge but apparently there was a sound detected on the stump mic.

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SOUTH Africa will kick themselves all the way home if they fall a seamer short in this Test.

The mysterious selection of left-armed spinner Robin Peterson for his first Test in four years was not one of their smarter moves.

If in doubt in Perth, four quicks is almost always the best way to go.

Rory Kleinveldt broke the back of the Australian top order in Adelaide.

It's harsh justice he is not playing here.

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PLAUDITS continue to flow the way of curator Cam Sutherland for another top class WACA wicket.

The feeling is this is one of the best Test wickets Australia has seen in recent years - plenty of pace and bounce but batsmen who apply themselves can still master it.

May there be many more of this ilk.

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NATHAN Lyon may not spin it like Murali or talk it up like Warnie, but Australia is warming to him.

Finger spinners in Australia have had a devilishly tough time bowling in Australia for as long as the game has been played here.

You don't expect them to perform miracles and Lyon could not bowl Australia to victory in the second Test in Adelaide.

But he is still making honourable progress.

Lyon is one of the most dedicated practicers in the squad and his three first innings wickets combined with his stubbornness as a nightwatchman on Friday have him an honourable contribution on a ground where spinners feel about about as home as a KISS fan at a One Direction concert.

Like a lot of country boys he has a dry sense of humour. When the crowd erupted thinking it was Ricky Ponting walking onto the ground he even did the Ponting stretch to enhance the theme.