Waking up at 6am and switching on the TV to check the Test score has not been a pleasant experience for South Africans during this series - or for their ex-coach. It is difficult to be unemotional about a team that I spent five years with. It is harder when they are getting clobbered, and even worse when I have to suffer the mainly Australian Channel 9 commentary box smugly telling us how good Australia are the whole time. Even Tony Greig has been singing their praises! The South Africans have not played well, but then Australia have not allowed them too. This has been compounded by the recent bally-hoo over quotas and team selections and by Percy Sonn, the president of the United Cricket Board, exercising his veto over the selectors. It has created massive - and occasionally very heated - debate in South Africa; it is an emotive issue. And if it affects the public like this, just imagine what is going on in the minds of the players.

So why has a side that only three weeks ago was being touted as the only one capable of giving the Aussies a run for their money been so totally overwhelmed? Mentally they have been up against it, for the following reasons.

1 The Australians are, quite simply, a very good team. Their players have outstanding technique, great ability, excellent facilities, a terrific attitude, a burning desire and a winning culture that is nurtured by the national psyche: "If you want to, do it!"

2 South Africa have arrived in Australia on the back of the troubled non-Test at Centurion, when the administrators and players disagreed with the sacking of the ICC match referee, Mike Denness. Internal disagreement never helps team spirit.

3 Selection, always a subjective matter, was questioned even before the team landed in Australia, and all those who practise the science of hindsight are having a field day. Sonn has set himself up as the having the final say, while Ngconde Balfour, the minister of sport, said that he would not interfere with team selection, but that is precisely what he did when Makhaya Ntini was dropped for the second Test. So while the team has outwardly been focused on the cricket, they have also had to deal with these problems. The Australian media have taken great delight in reminding them all of these problems. The war of words is a fantastic Australian ploy and it seems to affect the opposition every time.

4 South Africa have suffered from a lack of experience in the coaching department. While I have no axe to grind with Graham Ford and Corrie Van Zyl - in fact, they work their butts off for the team - it really needed a Kepler Wessels, or someone with just as tough an exterior, to manage the media onslaught.

On the cricketing front, I am convinced that South Africa have selected the wrong teams (although politics has played its role). Batting Lance Klusener at No. 6 simply isn't an option at the moment. He is a destructive player in the one-day game and, in Test cricket, lower down the order, but this means he will have to bowl more than he is doing if he is to justify his place in the team. I hope they see the light and play the 20-year-old Jacques Rudolph: I have not seen a better young batsman for some time, and it is staggering that he never got a game.

The game plans have been strange and unclear. Over the past year the only time the Australians have been vulnerable has been when the opposition have scored a lot of runs. The facts speak for themselves. New Zealand and India have both proved that recently. The South Africans have a lot of talent, but have fallen into the trap of not building an innings. Shot-selection has been poor, the missed catches have been costly. One of the greatest mistakes any sporting team can make is to try to play like the opposition instead of playing their own game at their own pace.

Technically they have looked inferior, and the fielding has been sub-standard too, but that could be down to pressure and lack of confidence. It is not easy to replace Jonty Rhodes, Daryll Cullinan and Hansie Cronje, and then beat Australia, but it won't be long before they rebuild again with new young players. It is disappointing, but they have been comprehensively outgunned. They will have to take their medicine like men, go back to the drawing-board and work harder. Unfortunately, though, until cricket reaches the stage when teams can again be picked entirely on merit the growing pains of the new South Africa will be hard to bear.

Bob Woolmer is Warwickshire's coach and ICC's high-performance manager. He was coach of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd