Guest column (by Luke Alfred)

When Adam Voges burst on the scene – the verb is clichéd but appropriate – there was the quietly expressed hope that Australian cricket might have found another Mike Hussey. The ‘late-developer’ tag was given further credibility when on Test debut against the West Indies in Dominica in June 2015, Voges scored a patient 130 not out, anchoring the Aussie innings of 318 in a nine-wicket win.

Six months later, Voges was at it again. He scored 269 not out at Hobart in the first Test of the reverse series, following it up with another hundred – 106 not out, this time – at the MCG in Test two.

After his first five Tests, all against the West Indies, Voges had a staggeringly implausible Test average of 542. The Hussey comparison was looking less and less far-fetched. 

Such salad days were fated not to last. Back in Hobart for his 20^th Test last November, Voges was deemed complicit in Australia being bowled out by the Proteas for 85 as they lost the second Test – and so the series – by an innings and 80 runs. It wasn’t only the fact that he failed in both innings’, scoring 0 and 2, but the manner of his dismissal that counted against him. Before nicking him off in the first innings, Vernon Philander bowled him an over of such sublime control that Voges looked like a promising under 14-A schoolboy promoted briefly into the first X1 nets so the coach could have a look. Fresh from his long ankle-injury layoff, Philander slapped Voges around before administering an overhand right of eerie perfection. It was beautiful to watch in an almost creepy kind of way.

In one morning of terror, Vern and Kyle Abbott (in the second innings) consigned a raft of very fine Aussie cricketers – Joe Mennie, Joe Burns, Callum Ferguson, Peter Nevill – to the scrap heap of history. Their selectors changed the side substantially for the third Test, which Australia won, and so began their re-building which culminated in their hearty, heads-high four-Test scrap against India a couple of weeks ago.

Lest we forget, the Hobart Test in November contained another story: one which has matured across the summer. Replying to Australia’s 85, South Africa were 132 for five when Hashim Amla was out for 47, the lead no more than nominal. This was until De Kock (104) and Temba Bavuma (74) combined for a sixth-wicket stand of 144, the highest partnership of the Test, and one which ensured the Proteas didn’t have to bat again.

So often this summer and De Kock’s class (think the second and third Tests against New Zealand) and Bavuma’s grit have shored up the South African batting. The problem is that the selectors and the brains trust have apparently been reluctant to ask why this should be so – until the third Test against New Zealand, that is, when they bravely jettisoned Stephen Cook (for me, the correct decision) for Theunis de Bruyn, the right man in the wrong position.

The result of this late fiddling is that ahead of our next Test assignment against England in a couple of months’ time, however, and we’re now in a pickle larger than anyone has had the courage to acknowledge. De Bruyn might justify his place but he’s not an opener; contra Tom Eaton, I would argue that JP Duminy isn’t the Graeme Hick but the Shane Watson of the national side and must go for once and for all. Amla, for all his quick-handed gifts, is looking increasingly weary, a sadness which must be confronted.

Batting struggles at the top of the order mean that pressure is transferred downward. Peter Pollock’s famed “90 for five syndrome” has, in fact, morphed into the 80 for five syndrome – exactly what we were at close on the fourth day in the third Test against the Kiwis.

The upshot of all of this is that the gains of a fascinating season are unravelling before our eyes because the selectors weren’t brave enough at home against our weakest opposition of the summer – Sri Lanka. The Cook axing had about it the air of something frantic and ill-conceived. Although it was the right decision, it came at the wrong time.

There’s a further issue. The Proteas’ batting fragilities have been shored up by Bavuma at six and De Kock at seven, which is all well and good, but it means place for only four bowlers. The Philander who started the summer was considerably perkier than the Philander who finished it, and Kagiso Rabada is being over-bowled. We’ve lost Abbott and who knows how much longer Dale Steyn can run in for. Duanne Olivier doesn’t do enough – or offer enough variation – to trouble good batsmen on good batting wickets.

As England demonstrated when they were here last summer, their stellar batting line-up demands that you bring your ‘A’ game with five bowlers. This has been a better summer than might reasonably have been expected. Faf du Plessis has brought a verve and warmth to his captaincy lacking under De Villiers and there have been new discoveries like Kershav Maharaj. South Africa have put some very good Test cricketers – think Voges – to the sword. This said, the winter is vrot with danger. For our Test side as well as the country at large.

Luke Alfred is a celebrated sports writer and a multiple winner at the SAB media awards.