As an exercise in muscle-flexing, Australia's whitewash of South Africa was as strong-armed as they come. As a message to the rest of the world ("Is that really the best you've got to offer?"), it was spine-chilling. But - and it's a measure of the quality of this Aussie team that we're even asking the question - was this the greatest victory of Steve Waugh's captaincy? The answer is equally frightening: probably not. The extra ingredient Waugh has managed to add to Mark Taylor's recipe is sheer ruthlessness: overwhelm at the start, apply the stranglehold, and tighten. This 3-0 win over South Africa was the fifth on the ICC Test Championship by a Waugh-led Australian team, and it would have been six but for Mark Butcher's moment in the Leeds sun. Three of those clean sweeps came over India and West Indies at home, and New Zealand away, none of which was as impressive as their demolition of South Africa.

The Championship appears to back this up: if No. 1 hammers No. 2, then it doesn't get much better, right? Well actually, that only tells half the story. The truth is that this was one of the weakest South African sides for years. For the first time since readmission, they faced Australia without Hansie Cronje (who averaged nearly 40 against them, played Shane Warne brilliantly, and was a bloody-minded captain who used to stand up to Waugh); they were without Daryll Cullinan (a liability against Warne, but still worth his place when the alternative is Boeta Dippenaar) and the inspirational Jonty Rhodes; they had one great player (Allan Donald) and one very good one (Lance Klusener) who were starting to feel the ravages of time; they had selectors who messed first with the batting order (demoting Jacques Kallis to No. 4), then with the entire team; and they had an inexperienced captain (Shaun Pollock) who had never had his ingenuity seriously tested. Apart from that, they matched Australia in every department.

The holes in South Africa's line-up at the start of the series were glaring - yet strangely glossed over. Call it smug hindsight if you like, but at least consider the facts. The top six wasn't quite the formidable unit some had detected. Gary Kirsten and Herschelle Gibbs were in good form, but that had been against the likes of Trevor Friend, Doug Hondo, Ashish Nehra and Ajit Agarkar. And Kirsten began the series hiding behind a career average against Australia of just over 24. Dippenaar was out of his depth at No. 3, while Neil McKenzie's incompetence against spin meant he had to make hay in a hurry while the seamers were on. And the decision to bat Klusener at No. 6 after his run of scores in the West Indies (5, 15, 5, 1, 4, 0, 1, 13, 31*) was just bizarre. And with Donald half-fit, Pollock was left with one great bowler (himself) to Australia's two (Glenn McGrath and Warne).

No, this series was not the biggest triumph of Waugh's reign. That came in the whitewash we haven't mentioned yet, over Pakistan at home two years ago. Then, Australia faced a world-class attack - Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar and Saqlain Mushtaq - and at Hobart made a fourth-innings target of 369 look easy after tottering to 126 for 5. The series wasn't conferred with the slightly artificial lustre of an official Test Championship, but it was a huge win, and a more daring one too.

What Australia did so well against South Africa was to assert themselves with utter ruthlessness against a team that didn't have the personnel to fight back, and which ultimately lacked the self-belief to do so.

We always knew, deep down, that Australia were the best. The only thing that isn't clear, as Muttiah Muralitharan pointed out only today, is whether South Africa, on present form, are still No. 2.

Lawrence Booth is assistant editor of Wisden.com.

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