In sport, memories are notoriously short.

On Saturday, Peter de Villiers was quickly forgiven the disaster of Durban only a week before. Similarly, the Test series triumph in England — the most significant South African sporting achievement of the year — is forgotten as our cricket team plays like a Sunday social 11.

There is still time to make amends by winning the last ODI of the series on Wednesday. As Peter Roebuck pointed out at the weekend, finishing a bad round of golf with a birdie makes up for 17 holes of rubbish.

But picking up a team so obviously low in morale won’t be that easy.

The drop from the pinnacle of Test series triumph to the pit of ODI humiliation has been so swift that it must be deeply worrying for those who run the national team.

Where did it all go wrong, and how to fix it in only four months, before the Australians loom on the horizon?

Allowing Shaun Pollock to retire a season too early was the biggest mistake. As we have seen during his commentaries on TV, he is not only a good player but also a clever one. Even at half his usual pace, he is a better bowler than, say, Vernon Philander, who has not fulfilled his early promise as an allrounder.  And that’s before we consider the batting strength Pollock brings to the team.

Was Pollock allowed to retire, or was he pushed, like Lance Klusener?

Klusener, by the way, hit a brilliant unbeaten double century for Northampton last week against a strong Glamorgan attack that included the veteran Aussie Jason Gillespie and the young Adam Shantry, a tall, fast bowler who has Test potential.

Then there are the injuries. Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel battled with a variety of ailments that, one hopes, can soon be ameliorated. The injury to Graeme Smith is of greater concern. Tennis elbow might sound like a frivolous complaint but it recently laid low Sachin Tendulkar for a long time and some suggest that he has not been the same player since.

Smith’s captaincy matured during the England tour and the Test victories were built around his solid batting. It would be a calamity if he were not fully fit to take on the Aussies in December.

The loss of form by Jacques Kallis is inexplicable. He is also said to be troubled by the tennis elbow thing. He might have bowled with vigour, but he’s in the team for his batting and that just wasn’t up to scratch.

Of the newcomers who are being pushed, JP Duminy has been a disappointment. He never seems to get the big scores. In 31 ODIs, he has managed a best of only 79 not out, and has totalled only 662 runs at an average of 33. It’s time for him to play a serious innings.

So how to fix all this?

Get the players fit, for a start. Smith and Kallis look as if they’re carrying too much weight. I haven’t seen their daily weight readings, so that could be just an illusion. But there is no sign of the rigorous fitness training that this team endured under Bob Woolmer and Hansie Cronje. Do they even have a fitness trainer?

There is not much time to get the team back to its earlier form, which mysteriously deserted it as soon as Kevin Pietersen assumed the captaincy of England, but there are resources — if only they will be used.

South Africa has a huge pool of cricket talent, much of it on display in England, in the counties. At home, there are eager young players trying to muscle into the picture. The selectors, a naturally cautious bunch, need to be bold. Players who have not performed must be discarded. It might be easier to do so to Paul Harris, who, in spite of some key wickets, was clearly not a Test bowler, than to Mark Boucher, who’s fighting spirit has often been the rock in the team (but even that seems dimished now).

Some of the new guard are already in place, such as Hashim Amla, but others appear not even to be on the selectors’ radar, like Roelof van der Merwe, a young spinner who can not only bat a bit, but has nerves of steel.

The selectors could do with some of that nerve right now.

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4. Kallis should open the batting
5. Winners… and losers