DAY one of the Australian summer of cricket was supposed to mark the start of a new era.

The slate? Clean. The honesty? Elite.

But most of all, fans were supposed to go to sleep on Sunday night proud of the Australian cricket team after a positive display to end a disastrous seven months both on and off the field.

Things didn’t go to script. Australia suffered a humiliating six-wicket defeat to South Africa in Perth.

Following the hammering on home soil, we look at five burning questions to emerge from the match.

The physical effect of Cricket Australia’s cultural review was there for all to see when newly decorated dressing rooms, emblazoned with terms “elite honesty” and “patience”, were unveiled before the first ODI.

After Sunday’s poor display, you can’t help but wonder if it’s had a mental effect as well.

Former Australia batsman Mark Waugh played down the suggestion on Fox Cricket, saying the damning findings are “no excuse” for the heavy defeat. But in the changerooms and a new Players’ Pact is a persistent reminder (or distraction) to the team to check its actions and focus on behaviour as much as cricket.

The new attitude has hardly impressed cricket legend Shane Warne, who delivered a scathing assessment of the Australian cricket team in its first showing in the post-Longstaff Review era.

“Forget all the words, forget all the verbal diarrhoea and all that sort of stuff. That’s all rubbish, seriously, it makes you vomit,” he said in commentary for Fox Cricket.

“At the end of the day you’ve got to play cricket, it’s a simple game and it’s a performance-based game.”

Former England captain Michael Vaughan made similar comments last week after the Players’ Pact was revealed by Tim Paine and Josh Hazlewood. The charter calls on Australian cricketers to make the country “proud” and for fans to “compete,” “smile,” “fight” and “dream” with the team.

“The Aussie cultural review is cringeworthy ... Smile with us, Dream with us ... What a load of B,” Vaughan tweeted. “Just play good, hard, fair cricket and win a few games is all that’s required.”

Australia may have behaved its best on Sunday, but performed close to its worst. It’s been a regular theme since the Cape Town ball-tampering saga as the team continues to struggle to find its feet in this new era.

IS THERE ANY WAY OUT OF THIS BATTING SLUMP?
Australia’s top six certainly isn’t looking world-class, especially after making just 65 runs in the first ODI. After a similar top six were routed in three T20s in the UAE against Pakistan, it would be easy to lose hope.

Opener Aaron Finch hasn’t scored more than five in his last five white-ball games, and No.3 D’Arcy Short hasn’t scored more than 10 in his last four.

Throw in the recent unfulfilled promise of explosive hitters Chris Lynn and Glenn Maxwell, and you have a batting crisis on your hands.

But in Travis Head, Finch, Short, Lynn, Maxwell and Alex Carey is a set of individuals who are high in talent, but low in confidence.

Head has made 1259 ODI runs at 35.97, including ten fifties and one century, and at 24 years old has his best years ahead of him.

Short was the MVP of last season’s BBL (572 at 57.20) and belted the highest score in Australian List A history (257) in September.

Lynn also starred in this season’s domestic One-Day Cup as its highest scorer (452 at 75.33), while Carey faced more than double the amount of deliveries of any other Australian batsman on Sunday on his way to 33 (71).

Finch is now the team’s captain and made 275 runs at 91.66 in his last ODI series in Australia. Meanwhile, Maxwell is known as ‘The Big Show’ for a reason, and could catch fire at any minute. In fact, it looked like he would on Sunday when he hit two boundaries off his first seven deliveries before he was derailed by a ball that struck the end of his finger. He required lengthy medical treatment and lost his wicket next ball.

With Steve Smith and David Warner suspended and Shaun Marsh sidelined by an abscess on his buttock, it’s hard to argue that Australia’s batting line-up in the first ODI was wrong.

The answer may be to keep the faith and grow the top six’s confidence, as suggested by Mike Hussey.

“We’ve chopped and changed the team a lot in the last couple of years,” Hussey told foxsports.com.au. “They’ve found it hard to settle on a batting order and allow players to gain some confidence in playing in that position.

“Giving players a chance to learn a role and have a role in the team that they feel comfortable playing in is important and it’s important they know they’ve got the backing of the coaches and the selectors and the captain that they’re going to be stuck with for a while.”

WHAT’S THE DEFINITION OF INSANITY?
According to the age old saying, it’s doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Finch quoted the saying when explaining his shock decision to not open the bowling with Mitchell Starc, despite defending just 152.

“It’s been 17 out of 19 (that we’ve lost), so we’re looking to try some new things and try something different,” Finch said after the game.

“If you keep doing the same thing over and over, it’s the definition of insanity isn’t it?”

Nathan Coulter-Nile was handed the new rock instead and was taken for 16 runs, including five wides, in his first over. If Australia was to make its measly 152 look more formidable, it needed to do so with some early pressure. But the poor over from Coulter-Nile let the Proteas off the hook as they got off to a flyer.

Fox Cricket commentators Kerry O’Keeffe and Isa Guha were also baffled by the decision.

“Starc gets people out, Hazlewood keeps us tight,” O’Keeffe said. “We didn’t want to keep it tight before the lunch break. Starc had to bowl early. Didn’t. Mistake.”

Guha added: “You are wondering why he (Starc) didn’t bowl that first over, because when you haven’t many runs to play with you absolutely need your gun bowler on right at the start to gee everyone up.”

Not opening with Starc wasn’t the only questionable call (or non-call) Finch made during the day.

Finch walked on a LBW decision which ball-tracker showed was going over the stumps. The captain said he wasn’t convinced he was out but was told by his partner Lynn he was plumb.

Instead of making a captain’s call and going with his gut (which was right), Finch walked.

After a string of single figure scores, the pressure is now mounting on Finch to turn his, and the team’s fortunes around quickly.

DID AUSTRALIA MISS SHAUN MARSH?
Marsh has become something of a whipping boy for fans after his woeful Test performances in the UAE against Pakistan last month.

Marsh averaged less than Jon Holland (3.50 to 5.0) in the series and averages 13.41 in Test cricket since the end of the Ashes.

Nonetheless, his late withdrawal from the first ODI due to an abscess on his buttock was a noticeable loss for the Australians.

Marsh topscored for Australia in its last ODI series; a 5-0 whitewash to England in June. He made 288 runs a 57.60 and scored two centuries.

He has 2184 career ODI runs at 39.70 and at 35 years old, is a senior figure within the dressing room which Australia has been starved of in the absence of Smith and Warner.

Marsh has also made steps in putting that horror UAE series behind him after making scores of 80 and 98 in the Sheffield Shield for Western Australia.

CAN AUSTRALIA’S QUICKS MATCH SOUTH AFRICA’S?
Australia could only scrape four wickets against South Africa on a bowler-friendly deck at Perth Stadium.

What was most surprising, however, was that Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc weren’t responsible for any.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s Dale Steyn and Lungi Ngidi took two each, and Andile Phehlukwayo three as they made the most of the quick wicket.

When fully fit, there is little doubt Australia’s pace trio can match the all-star attack of South Africa. Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins average just under 25 in ODIs as a trio. Steyn, Kagiso Rabada and Ngidi average 24.31.

But neither Hazlewood or Cummins have played in an international series since the tour of South Africa in March. Starc only returned last month in the UAE but at a reduced capacity as he battled hamstring tightness.

WHAT IS ELITE HONESTY?
Erm, we still don’t know.