Australia's crushing series loss to South Africa could be a sign of things to come with Australia captain Ricky Ponting admitting he hopes his side can dominate world cricket again "in a few years time".
While still technically ranked No 1, Australia will concede the title to South Africa if Graeme Smith's side complete a 3-0 series sweep in the third test which starts on Saturday.
South Africa cruised to victory an hour after lunch on day five at the MCG on Tuesday, reaching 183 for one to win by nine wickets.
Smith made 75 while opener Neil McKenzie was 59 not out.
Hashim Amla hit the winning runs, prompting his team-mates to run onto the field in celebration at South Africa's first test-series triumph on Australian soil.
It was no party for Australia who have lost their first test series at home since 1992-93 and gone down in two of their past three series, losing in India before beating lowly New Zealand.
Australia will go into the Sydney test without pace spearhead Brett Lee (foot) and all-rounders Andrew Symonds (knee surgery) and Shane Watson (back), who are all out of action for the rest of the summer.
Uncapped trio Doug Bollinger from NSW, Tasmania's Ben Hilfenhaus and Victoria's Andrew McDonald have been named in a 12-man squad.
All-rounder McDonald, 27, is set for his test debut.
Ponting said either Hilfenhaus or left-armer Bollinger would also come into the side for the injured Lee.
While Ponting said he wasn't using injuries as an excuse, he did point out that having paceman Stuart Clark absent from the series with an elbow injury didn't help either.
Australia's bowling attack for Sydney will be led by 17-Test player Mitchell Johnson, three-test quick Peter Siddle, three-test spinner Nathan Hauritz and either Hilfenhaus or Bollinger.
How Australia have fallen since the glory days of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath just two summers ago.
The issue of veteran opener Matthew Hayden is also troubling the Australian side, with the 37-year-old unable to buy a run at the moment (313 runs at 22.35 in eight matches).
Ponting and chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch both denied the Sydney match would be a testimonial for the 102-test veteran before his retirement, with Ponting saying he hopes Hayden makes a big score and continues on for the South African test tour in February.
"We've all got to remain upbeat. There's no time for panic or as Andrew Hilditch said, chop and change," Ponting said.
Australia have fallen back to the field in 2008 with five wins, five losses and four draws.
"A lot of players in the team aren't accustomed to losing test matches let alone test series," Ponting said.
"We've had an amazing run as a team ... We have dominated world cricket for a long period of time.
"I'm still very positive and very sure that with some of these younger guys coming on that in a few years time we can get back up there and be dominating world cricket once again.
"The gap between our best cricket and our worst cricket has been too big and we have to make that smaller if we want to win the next test and if we want to stay in that top group of test-playing nations."
Smith paid tribute to Australia's decade of dominance.
"They've dominated world cricket for a decade or so. The balance has probably evened out a little bit more now, and other teams are moving into other eras," he said.
