Only four players safe in shattered Australia, warns coach Darren Lehmann

The final Test of the series will be in Adelaide next week.

South African captain Faf du Plessis has presided over his second series whitewash over Australia‚ but he’s not done.

Steve Smith was hurt and embarrassed after another humiliating loss as Australia’s test cricket captain, and he didn’t want to disguise the depths of the problems.

“To come here and do it 2-0, is special for us as a team …”

It was nearly a repeat of day one, when South Africa sent Australia in to bat and had the hosts 8-4 before Smith’s unbeaten 48 helped the home team narrowly avoid some unwanted records.

Australia make just 60 in 18.3 overs, the shortest completed first innings in history, to lose the fourth Test against England and surrender the coveted Ashes trophy.

Smith was a lone hand in Australia’s paltry first innings total of 85, contributing 48 not out. “Our defences aren’t standing up to it and the pressures that they’re building so we’ve got to be a lot better”, said Smith. “I think we did that better than them”.

Despite missing Dale Steyn to injury for all but the first day of the first Test, and the inimitable AB de Villiers having sat out the series for the same reasons, the tourists have etched themselves into the record books as the first visitors since the West Indies to win three straight series in Australia.

“It’s whether you just start again, go with a clean sheet, write down those five names (Smith, Warner, Khawaja, Starc, Hazlewood) and go again”.

“That’s a tough question. we haven’t been good enough, everything will be talked about”, Smith said, when asked if he should become a selector.

“And it is happening way too consistently for my liking”.

“We’re not being resilient, we’re not willing to tough it out and get through tough periods”.

“They’ve been ordinary in the seven days of Test cricket we’ve seen so far this summer, on the back of some ordinary Test cricket in Sri Lanka”.

“It is not working”.

“It will be a different group of players that goes to the next Test match”, he said.

“We ve got to start finding a way to turn things around”. Whether the ball is seaming or spinning or swinging we don’t have an answer at the moment.

Usman Khawaja (64), David Warner (45) and Steve Smith (31) were the only batsmen who could cross the double-digit mark in the second innings.

Voges trudged off the field after scores of 0 and 2, fearing his Test career was over at the age of 37.

The latest performance, Australia’s fifth Test defeat in a row, has led to an outcry in Australia over the current state of the game in those parts.

South Africa’s performance at the Waca was impressive enough, what with Dean Elgar and JP Duminy scoring centuries and Rabada taking a five-wicket haul.