The South Africans certainly must think so. After all, their pace battery, consisting of Steyn, Rabada and Morkel, will match Australia’s, and probably exceed it for sustained pace – even though Starc is the form Test pace bowler.

However, the Proteas’ batting line-up, even without AB de Villiers, looks like a pretty steady edifice compared to the wonky Aussie humpy at the moment.

The Aussies have talent to burn, with two incredibly well-performed bladesmen in Smith and Warner. But their weaknesses are more numerous than South Africa’s, who have batting depth and versatility. Sadly, the spinners, Lyon and Tahir, are out of the equation.

Though Test cricket is supposed to be a departure from batsman-dominated short-forms, it’s the struggle between bat and ball that always made it interesting. That contest has lost its dimension, and the demise of spinners is symptomatic of it.

The solution? Restore variety to Australia’s pitches. Make the contest more even. Even Adelaide doesn’t take spin on day five these days. Sydney’s a moribund slab. Australia can lead the way in making the long forms of the game interesting again ... Then Aussie players will be challenged at home on a variety of strips, their overseas form will improve, and die-hard long-form fans will get what they want: the age-old struggle between bat and ball, as Jason Krejza put it in his article on the future of spin for the upcoming issue of Inside Cricket.