Every time I look at the crowd here I seem to see a large Australian, naked from the waist up, carrying a huge flag in one hand and a massive jug of beer in the other. Not the same person. There are lots of them. And the South African supporters seem to have shuffled off to the shadier parts of the ground to lick their wounds.
Some of them are Mexican-waving but you can tell their hearts really aren't in it because it is a dreadfully forlorn and unco-ordinated affair. They wanted to have fun this weekend but the Aussies have come along and spoiled their party.
Without taking anything away from Australia – and I fear they might be too good for England this summer, for callow though they are they are a spirited and in some cases brilliant bunch – it is difficult to know what has gone wrong with the South Africa side.
In recent series they have gone to Pakistan, India, England and Australia and won each time. Since he took over in 2005 coach Mickey Arthur has taken the side forward. After the series win in Australia earlier this winter Arthur said: "We've been moulding our Test side for two years and I felt we were the finished article. The win in England last year was the watershed for our self-belief."
But when I came to the ground this morning my taxi driver said: "That win in Australia doesn't mean anything now. Not after being beaten by them here."
The locals feels let down. They wanted to see their side crowned as the best in the world, a passing of the baton from one great to team to another, but it hasn't happened.
Australia seem to be mentally stronger and it's difficult not to conclude that some complacency must have crept into the psyche of Graeme Smith's team. Either that or the pressure on them to deliver the prize was too much in the end. I will leave that one for the psychologists to debate.
This is still not a very strong Australia side. Not by any means. But South Africa have allowed them to impose themselves, to dictate terms. Forget the stuff about Smith losing the toss in all five Tests against Australia so far. It was a good toss to lose in Johannesburg and when Australia won it South Africa had them 38-3 on a pitch which was doing a bit. But they bowled badly after that.
The young Aussie team carried the impetus of that fine win at the Wanderers into this match and South Africa, themselves a positive bunch, now seem to lack that self-belief that Arthur referred to.
They lost their last two wickets in three balls this morning and Australia went in to bat again with a first innings lead of 214. Since then we we've had an absolute masterclass of batsmanship from Ricky Ponting, who seems determined to make up for his rush of blood in the first innings when he slogged to long-off after scoring only nine.
Even the free-scoring Phillip Hughes seemed to sit back and enjoy the innings from his captain after Simon Katich was dismissed for a sprightly 30. Shortly after reaching his half-century Ponting went past his countryman Steve Waugh to become the fourth-heaviest run scorer of them all. Only Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Allan Border are ahead of him and he may pass all of them before he's done.
As he nurses the broken bone in his right hand, opposite number Smith can only reflect on where it all went wrong. The great West Indian team of the 1980s used to target the opposing captain. "Cut off the head and the body dies," is what they said. After sending Smith to hospital in Sydney, and again here, the Aussie bowlers seem to have done the same thing.
