SA sidelined as press guns for Baggy Greens

AUSTRALIA’S newspapers‚ often considered part of the challenge touring teams face in Australia, aimed their guns inward yesterday in the wake of South Africa’s test series triumph.

Faf du Plessis’s men clinched the rubber by winning the second test by an innings and 80 runs at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart on Tuesday.

That followed South Africa’s win in the first test at the Waca.

Those victories made South Africa‚ which also won in Australia in 2008-09 and 2012-13‚ the only team besides West Indies to claim a hat-trick of test series successes in Australia.

All things being equal‚ that would lead to a deluge of praise in the press.

But‚ with South Africa taking all 10 wickets for 86 runs in the first innings in Perth‚ and in Hobart dismissing Australia for 85 first up and then claiming eight scalps for 32 in the second dig‚ nothing about this series has been equal.

And that includes the papers‚ whose pages have been filled with thousands of words dedicated to Australia’s problems and how to fix them.

South Africa? A couple of hundred words‚ often near the bottom of an inside page.

The noise‚ loud enough after Perth‚ reached a crescendo yesterday.

The country’s only national daily broadsheet‚ The Australian‚ features unimpeachable reporting and reasoned comment.

So the headline on yesterday’s back page lead might have shocked readers: “Disgrace to the Baggy Green.”

Seasoned journalist Peter Lalor wrote: “Australia captain Steve Smith is‚ like the Australian public‚ sick of it.

“He’s embarrassed‚ angry and disappointed. He has questioned the commitment of his team and says there need to be changes.

“Smith is sick of leading a side that talks a good game, only to fall on its face every time it is called on to walk a good game.”

Lalor also made it onto the front page with a piece referencing South Africa’s 5-0 whitewash over the Aussies in a oneday series last month, titled “8-32‚ 0-5 adds up to an incalculable crisis”.

“Australian cricket is in crisis like never before‚” Lalor wrote.

“Heads have to roll‚ but no matter how many sacrifices are made‚ it will not satisfy the blood lust of the public.”

The front page of The Age‚ Melbourne’s respected daily‚ was dominated by a photograph of Smith walking off head bowed after being dismissed on Tuesday‚ under the headline: “The low point.”

The headline on the back page over a photograph of Kyle Abbott celebrating one of the six wickets he took in Australia’s second innings was: “Not good enough.”

The tabloid Herald Sun bannered its back page with: “1948 – Bradman had the Invincibles. 2016 – Smith has the Insipids.”

Australian cricket is in crisis like never before