KEY POINTS:
Rome wasn't built in a day and the collapse of its empire wasn't exactly an exercise in indecent haste either.
Have no such fear, though, in pinpointing the precise moment when it could be confirmed that the most magnificent empire in international sport was no more. At 4.22pm
Melbourne time on Monday, December 29, the Australian captain Ricky Ponting spewed a catch to South Africa's short cover and that was that.
Pack up the helmets and armour and willow swords, and contemplate a brand new day. Australia were eight down when Ponting departed, but in reality they had already sunk much lower.
With Ponting gone, only rain - or a miracle - was going to deny Graeme Smith's South Africans their first series win on Australian soil. They duly completed the rout yesterday, in a near empty colosseum.
So all hail, South Africa, who have completed the first bagging of the baggy greens in Australia for 16 long, fascinating years. The great era is over, and South Africa will top the world rankings if they can also win in Sydney.
How typical, then, that Ponting, the stone-hearted Caesar of this Australian team, should fall one short of what would have been a historic second century in this test. Instead of becoming the first man to achieve this four times, he was sent packing and you could almost see the feats of Allan Border, Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and far too many others to mention going with him up the tunnel.
Until now there was a lineage from Ponting's team back to the resurrection of Australian cricket begun by Border in the late 1980s. But these hopefuls are all at sea now, still under the command of Ponting, but drifting to the point that ties with this glorious past are cut.
Romulus Ricky was the last hope for this empire - but it was only a forlorn one anyway and the Barbarians of South Africa, India and England had just about rattled the gates off their hinges.
South Africa have fought and played superbly, both their young and old, and been humble with it. But Australia are also crashing under the weight of their vast success, having lost alternative routes to victory now that they can't chuck the sunny Warne or surly McGrath the ball.
The sacking of Australia will lead to the sack for a few of its weary troops and the only sure bet left in Australian cricket is that Richie Benaud will tell a few old stories and his fellow commentators will never know when they are beat when it comes to flogging off goods and services with all the gusto of Trade Me. Tony Greig and Co better get in quick, however, because they'll have trouble selling hundreds of exclusive, framed and signed knick-knacks from
the new crop of Aussie players. The wise guess is that there will always be piles of unsold Peter Siddle-signed stumps, recession or not.
New Zealand did their best to prop up Australian confidence in two tests but when cricketers with techniques and hearts that don't collapse at the sight of Ponting's upturned collar arrived for battle, the truth was laid as bare as a pitch in the Great Victorian Desert.
Gone are Australia's pace, swing, leg spin, frightening openers, ruthless fielding and clever, brutal selection policies. In their place are men who look a lot like the other cricketers who inhabit the other seven international teams, and not even that good at times. Even the umpiring decisions aren't going their way.
This Australian team, minus its hard heads and swashbucklers, must play in the shadow of Warne's salesman smile, which beams down on them from the sightscreen. Yet it is South Africa who are smiling today.
It wasn't as if the Australians didn't have opportunities to put South Africa away during the first two tests, but it has been the visitors who dusted themselves off then ran a sword through the hosts.
What a fantastic run it has been, though, and like Rome the Australian cricket team was built to its heights over many days.
Along the way the Australians kept the attacking arts to the forefront in test cricket, and turned the one-day World Cup into a one-horse race.
They have launched the Waughs, Warne, Adam Gilchrist, Glenn McGrath, Ponting, Matthew Hayden and too many other cricketing stars to possibly list here on to the world stage.
There was a bully-boy edge to the Aussie assault, though, and for that alone I'll spare the tears and gladly help usher Ponting and his failing mates on their way. Australia will be back, but it will be a long time before we see any team as dominant for so long again.
Don't jump too heavily on the grave though, because it is these very Aussies who have kept the wonders of test cricket alive. Without Australia's love of the game and the standards they set, test cricket would be in a right state right now.
As it is, the common cry is that a world of internet and debt doesn't have time for the pleasures of the wonderful five-day game.
Cricket is entering a new world order of less certain rankings which should, in theory, galvanise interest. But the frivolous Twenty/20 is raging like a bushfire and even terrorism is shaking cricket to the core.
Forget the wider issues for now, though, because this was South Africa's glorious day.
A Greek tragedy too, as a crowd around the world undoubtedly cheered while a dejected Ponting walked down that Melbourne tunnel.
It is already a historic test series, and one to celebrate, although the television commentators had a bit of trouble spotting the true significance of the occasion.
"What about Mitchell Johnson ... this is not a bad little effort by Peter Siddles," Bill Lawry droned about the bowlers, as South Africa's batsmen banged in the final nails.
Lawry and his mates were still blinded by Australian glories past, even flogging off more mass-produced memorabilia on the final day.
