No Warne, no McGrath, no Langer, no Gilchrist. And will the names of Matthew Hayden and Brett Lee also be absent from Australia's cast list for next summer's Ashes series? The crushing defeat inflicted on Australia in the first Test in Perth yesterday by South Africa, who scored a huge 414 for four in their second innings to win, has thrown the futures of some of their senior players into serious doubt.

It is not just the unfortunate newcomers, such as Jason Krejza and Peter Siddle, who are failing to plug the gaping holes left by Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath. The pressure is also mounting on such established names as Hayden and Lee, after centuries from Graeme Smith and A. B. de Villiers led South Africa to the second-highest successful run chase in Test history, knocking India's effort against England last week into fifth place.

For so long it had seemed as though there was little else to being an Australia selector than rubber-stamping yet another victory. These days, after the recent series defeat by India and this setback against South Africa, they are being made to work harder for their money. While the squad for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne was expected to show few changes after their selection meeting last night, some weighty decisions await when a tour party is chosen for the return series in South Africa in February and March.

On a wearing pitch, Australia's bowling attack, with the honourable exception of Mitchell Johnson, proved to be toothless. Johnson took three wickets in the second innings to finish with match figures of 11 for 159, but Lee, Krejza and Siddle managed one wicket apiece in the match. Australia are missing Stuart Clark, who is expected to have recovered from an elbow injury for the tour to South Africa, but Lee's failure to shoulder the attack has disconcerted Ricky Ponting, the captain.

“We expect him to run in and have some impact with the new ball, but that wasn't there in this game,” Ponting said. “He'll be in the squad [for Melbourne], but there's no doubt he's under a bit of pressure.” If South Africa go on to win one of the two remaining Tests in the series, they will become the first visiting team to win a Test series in Australia since West Indies in 1993. No player in the present Australia team has experienced falling behind this early in a series in their own country, as this was the first time they have lost the first Test of a home series since 1988.

Not even Hayden, whose Test career dates back to 1994 but could now be drawing to a close. At 37, he has opted to continue playing when contemporaries such as Justin Langer and Adam Gilchrist have retired. Anxious not to lose too many players at the same time, Australia have looked to Hayden as one of those to bridge the gap while younger players gain experience. Looking bereft of confidence, Hayden was unlucky to be given out in the second innings in Perth, adjudged caught and bowled by Dale Steyn when the ball hit only his pad, but he has now passed fifty only twice in his past 13 Test innings.

“At the end of the series, we'll sit down and see where he is,” Tim Nielsen, the Australia coach, said. “It will make it difficult if his scores are not as consistent as he would like, but at the moment we just have to be patient.”

There was a sharp contrast between Hayden's leaden-footed uncertainty and the sprightly innings played by De Villiers and Jean-Paul Duminy, who stroked 50 not out on his Test debut. The victory was described by Gerald Majola, the chief executive of Cricket South Africa, as “one of the greatest feats achieved in South African cricket and sports history”. Whether it also comes to be seen as an historic hammer blow at a wobbling Australia edifice will be determined over the next few weeks.

Chasing a place in history

South Africa's victory yesterday meant that the records for the highest successful Test run chases have been amended for the second time in less than a week:

West Indies 418 for seven v Australia, Antigua, 2003
South Africa 414 for four v Australia, Perth, 2008
India 406 for four v West Indies, Trinidad, 1976
Australia 404 for three v England, Headingley, 1948
India 387 for four v England, Madras (Chennai), 2008
Australia 369 for six v Pakistan, Hobart, 1999
Australia 362 for seven v West Indies, Guyana, 1978