Looks like winning the toss was key.

Win the toss bat first & you are guaranteed to win.

However Saffas need a couple of breaks with their bowling.

Australia have been brilliant with the bat.

Run rate is more than healthy.

There must have been weather problems I see Aussies are still batting. SA need to bat well once and the game will be a draw.

Congratulations to Australia. SA nearly hung on for a draw but didn't quite make it.
Be interested to see where SA go now with the captaincy.. It would be to much to give de Villiers the job. Unless he gives up the gloves. which would be a sensible thng to do.. South Africa are coming back to the pack
The number 1 spot is up for grabs for most of the top teams involved.Apart from India.

Why not India? Indians think England with all the changes are there for the taking despite losing away to NZ.

India will be playing away from home, of course they have no chance

India's only problem is they dont have a pace attack. spinners aint going to pick 20 wickets. we have a pretty good batting attack, but our bowling will not be able to do much away from home conditions.

Im not sure close Ind Eng will be but im 100percent sure we will be destroyed in Australia. if harris, and johnson are still there we will be destroyed

England v India should be a cracking series.

I'm glad it's 5 tests

When's the last time India played a 5 test series?

England are in transition:

- New coach who will be Giles
- Opener issues
- Trott
- New middle order
- No decent spinner
- Anderson form and 3rd seamer (hopefully Onions)

If India had a decent seam attack they could have taken England but if NZ can dominate India then England will have no problems 3-0 to England.

Congratulations to Australia on a brilliant win & impressive Test series win away to South Africa.

Australia have gone from strength to strength.

Rhino & Mitchell have been fantastic with the ball & Darren Pattinson has done well in his 1st test match back in nearly a year.
Warner magnificent with the bat showing his true potential.

All round team performance from Australia.

Sad too see Smith retire but its his call & i wish the very best in his retirement from the international scene.
Remarkable leader, captain & batsman & also very handy in the slip fielding.

Graeme Smith aka the England Captain Slayer!

2003 - drew 2-2 vs England - Nasser Hussain relinquished his captaincy.

2008 - won 2-1 - vs England - Michael Vaughan relinquished his captaincy

2012 - won 2-0 - vs England - Andrew Strauss relinquished his captaincy.

Really good healthy sledging in this test series.

England should take note.

if smith stayed for one more england series, Cook would be next on the hit list.

One question is, how flat are those pitches in SA? It certainly wasnt a day 5 difficult pitch. Aus have a good attack and it took them fortunes to get 10 Sa'n wickets.

Now compare that to Indian conditions. If you had a lead of 450 and 140 overs to bowl a team out in the final 2 days, the team would not even last 60 overs. Its definately harder to bat on turning tracks compared to fast bouncy tracks.

Obviously these tracks were far from the typical SA seaming tracks, but Aus have definately outplayed SA. New no.1 in the making. only worry is, do Aus have a replacement for harris. He is an amazing bowler proved that today.

I think Darren Pattinson will take over from Rhino.

Rhino has been magnificent

24 wickets in 4 matches in the summer of 2013 in England then backed that up by taking 22 wickets in 5 tests matches in Australia.

Real warrior of a bowler. Australia looking lethal all round especially now they got their sledging groove back.

Viru when Sub Cont sides go to SA they always produce seaming tracks as this is our weakness.

2nd and 3rd test tracks were very flat which makes the result even more impressive. Pakistan will have to create some rank turning tracks when the Aussies come to UAE cos if the track is plain flat then they will beat us with there pace.

yes. Thats what I 'hate' to see. Yes its definately impressive. Both teams fought quite well, difference was I guess Australia had like 3 impact bowlers, whereas SA could only have one in steyn.

Would love to see how this Aus team would do in turning pitch against ajmal. will be fascinating to see.

A completely transformed Australian team. A team that we are all used to seeing for a long time. Now its a matter of how SA, Eng and to some extent India do their rebuilding for the benefit of the game. Would love to see more of these type of cricket where scorecard reads 2-1 or 1-1 and not 5-0

Why couldnt this be a 5 Test match series. Both team have great quality and it would have been good to see SA try and fight back again.

If im honest im abit disappointed with SA bowlers in this series actually include the India series too. Something just doesnt quite look alright imo.

Steyn had been good but not at his usual world class standard whereas Philander and Morkel have been quite poor imo.

SA are missing Kallis big time already imo.

Yes agreed Boss. I think the pitches have had a big say in that as well. Like those pitches didnt have an swing or seam even in the India series. I think SA were probably also suffereing from fatigue after the india series. Amla has been out of form as well, not at his usual best.

But I think considering the limitations with SA, taking the last game till like the last 5 overs was a massive achievement. Dont think even this Australian would have been able to do that if they were in a similar position

Johnson's career is very usual. One rarely finds a fast bowler performing at an average to mediocre level for 6 years, and then hitting his best in 7th year of test career and continuing into the 8th.

*unusual