As the players walked off for bad light for the second day in a row, I felt as though I had been stuck at the bottom of a rugby maul. This game has progressed so quickly, with 28 wickets falling in two days, that it makes one-day cricket look pedestrian. The run rates have been phenomenal - maybe there's an unwritten rule that you have to score at four an over, or get out. If this type of cricket continues, then the face of Test cricket will be changed forever. It's not just happening at Durban. Two unbelievable innings in New Zealand – the first by Graham Thorpe, the second by Nathan Astle – have made a mockery of the so-called norms of Test cricket. We will no longer be coaching how to build an innings by playing in the V for the first hour. Sunil Gavaskar's claim that the first hour belongs to the bowler and then the rest to the batsman no longer holds credibility.

It is the last Test of a long campaign, so the teams may be demob-happy, or they might simply be suffering from the heat and humidity. Whatever the reason, the entertainment on offer at Kingsmead has been nothing short of fantastic. Logically, today should have been the fourth day. I kept having to pinch myself to realise it was actually the second one. And none of it is down to the pitch, which everyone seems to agree is perfect for batting.

Wickets have tumbled because everyone is obsessed with playing a shot to every delivery. Herschelle Gibbs has developed an alarming tendency to play a rash shot when well-set. Graeme Smith, who is normally very correct, tried to smack a wide delivery for four. Prince and Boucher fell to full-tosses, and most extraordinary of all, Hayden and Langer both failed twice in a row.

The only exception to this madness was David Terbrugge, who stuck to the tried-and-tested norms of Test cricket. He bowls a steady line and length, and has that knack of picking up wickets. It is unfortunate that he was a victim of the quota system – Ntini has done well for South Africa and has more pace, but Terbrugge has more control. My ideal South African attack would consist of Pollock, Terbrugge, Hayward and Kallis as the fourth seamer, with Ntini and Hayward sharing one spot. I am a firm believer that South Africa will have to rotate their seamers far more, as the number of international matches continues to rise.

Mark Waugh, undone by a Kallis offcutter, will have a lot of pondering to do in the days ahead. He's not been selected for the one-dayers, and his Test place is going to be under enormous scrutiny now. Could anyone have imagined an Australian side without the two Waugh brothers and Michael Slater? A year ago, the mere notion would have been preposterous.

Yet in all the mayhem one batsman stood out and steadied the ship. Steve Waugh has a keen cricketing sense, and he knows full well that, with three days to go, South Africa could make 300 to win the Test. He batted like he has on many occasions in the past, and it is possible that this run-a-ball madness will end tomorrow, a bit like a 24-hour bug. Either way, the Test is unlikely to stretch beyond lunch on the fourth day. Quick results will draw back the crowds, that's for certain, but I'm not too sure the Natal cricket officials are enjoying the prospect of blank days on Monday and Tuesday.

Bob Woolmer, South Africa's coach between 1994 and 1999, will be giving his verdict on each day's play.

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