No matter how great the margin between South Africa and Australia in the first Test match, it would always flatter the hosts. A final gap of 177 runs was no indication of the difference between the teams.
Here was Australia at full strength, with four frontline bowlers plus a fifth smuggled in among the batsmen in case of breakdown, and more contingency planning than a Saturday morning drive across Sydney. And there was South Africa, with two overworked pace bowlers, a debutant left-arm finger spinner (which never works in Perth), and a ragtag troupe of batsmen living out their boyhood fantasies. One, Temba Bavuma, bowled stump-height to stump-height. Another, Stephen Cook, had a bowling action so minimalist he appeared not to be using either arm. This was the biggest mismatch since Agincourt.
Of course, South Africa won, and not just because one Kagiso Rabada was worth five Australians. South Africa won because they were resilient and Australia were not. On Friday morning, when Dale Steyn's series came to an end, a three-day Australian victory appeared inevitable. They had stumbled during the winter, but that was on the subcontinent, which seldom counts for much with the Australian audience. Sure-footed at home, they were cruising towards a win in the first Test match of the summer, a pattern repeating into the mists of time. This was Australia, in Australia.
When things were at their worst, South Africa reached for their best. Australia, when challenged, melted away. There was the clothing of determination and symbolism – Steve Smith bringing his men out in baggy green caps on Sunday morning to 'make a statement' – but little beneath the skin. Aided by an overwhelming home advantage, four dominant sessions to start the match, and an opponent on its knees, Australia's fortunes were mirrored by SpiderCam's: they didn't fray, they snapped.
So much credit is due to Faf du Plessis's team that perhaps it is an injustice to waste a word on the Australians. As with their bowling, so did South Africa's batting conquer the odds. Who would have thought, without more than a wicket from Steyn and a run from Hashim Amla – and without the great AB de Villiers - South Africa could match, let alone dominate, Australia? The second innings partnership between Dean Elgar and J.P. Duminy was that rare blend of salt and silk, two small left-handers who came together at the end of each over and at the end of a match-turning stand, yet in between did everything differently. Quinton de Kock was, and will be, South Africa's weapon. Bavuma, du Plessis and Vernon Philander all gave something when required with the bat.
With the ball, Rabada warranted all the advance publicity. From the tiny hamlet of Johannesburg, son of a medicine man, tutored in cricket at the Methodist village school of St Stithians College (internet warning: ironic themes), born the year after South Africa's first multi-racial elections, Rabada's talent is neither raw nor rustic. His exploitation of reverse swing, his control and his forensic examination of each Australian's weakness gave his bowling coach Charl Langeveldt goosebumps. From here to Hobart, it will give his opponents the shivers.
For Australia, there was little diversion from the shock. Usman Khawaja put to rest the recent silliness over his selection. Peter Nevill gave everything that can be hoped for from a wicketkeeper-batsman. David Warner is batting well, and the new-ball attack will improve with fitness. Beyond that, the swiftness of Australia's decline – within this match and over the past six months – is startling and, well is 'un-Australian' a thing?
A year ago, Australia were able to celebrate a speedy transition and recovery from the tumultuous flame-out of the Clarke-Haddin-Johnson-Watson era. Eight months ago, in New Zealand, Australia's future could not have looked rosier. And now they have just lost four straight Test matches and five one-dayers. The last team they were able to beat was Ireland. Their defeat in Perth is the first time Australia have lost the opening Test match of a summer since 1988. Something has gone suddenly and catastrophically wrong with a team that recently appeared to be on the bounce. Not only that, but the lack of resilience, when playing at home with every variable in their favour, did not resemble an Australian performance at all.
