South Africa supporters were jumping up and down with excitement at Kingsmead here today. And it lasted for about 10 minutes, the time it takes for the innings changeover. But now they're supping their Castle cans and they look about as cheerful as Jack Dee.
Australia, having come here as second favourites, are in position to go 2-0 up and retain their top ranking in the International Cricket Council table with some comfort. If they win this game it will be three Tests in a row against South Africa, counting the Sydney Test in January, and it's difficult to argue with that, particularly when you recall that they were also in strong positions at Perth and Melbourne, though they eventually lost those matches to Graeme Smith's team.
Ricky Ponting's career as captain of the side was at an all-time low a year ago, following the controversial series against India when there was unseemly behaviour and accusations of arrogance. But now he is remoulding a bright young side - remoulding himself too, because these days he has to work harder at his tactics and theories. He can't just toss the ball to Shane Warne or Glenn McGrath, although Mitchell Johnson is becoming a fantastic cricketer, one who can destroy the opposition with bat or ball.
We've had an astonishing day here, with wickets tumbling so rapidly either side of lunch that there was scarcely time to scribble all the names down. And that's not counting the battered and bruised figures of captain Smith and Jacques Kallis, who both retired hurt, courtesy of Johnson. Smith is out of the series, I guess, because he has a fracture in his right hand and play gets under way in Cape Town on March 19, not that that is likely to count for much now.
So we've seen 10 wickets go down and two other players hobble off the field in not much more than a session. Johnson will create mayhem in England in the summer if he bowls like this, particularly now that he has now learned to bowl the one that comes into the right-hander. A little while ago some people were suggesting that England should prepare bouncy wickets in the Ashes this summer before unleashing Steve Harmison. That looks dated intelligence now. I think they should prepare featherbeds.
Australia collapsed first today, losing their last five wickets for four runs in 18 deliveries as South Africa battled back into the match and the series. The way Australia imploded before lunch would have made England followers misty-eyed with nostalgia. They were 329 for 4 and then 352 all out just after the interval.
And South Africa's reciprocal collapsed - they were 6 for 3 in the sixth over - happened as we approached high tide in Durban at 1.45. There's lots of nonsense chatter in these parts about the conditions becoming more difficult when the tide is in. It's either the tide or the "green mamba," they say, when the wickets tumble, the mamba being the nickname for the pitch's greenish hue. But Johnson is probably the real answer. It's very difficult to get these Aussies down. South Africa look in ruins just now.
