I haven’t written anything about the Proteas recently, mostly because it is rude to point and stare. But as the national men’s cricket team prepares to leave a World Cup in which they could only dream of choking, perhaps it’s time to dwell on the striking parallels between them and our government.

Some are obvious. For example the captain, a likeable bloke, keeps promising that things will get better and expressing regret and mild surprise when they don’t. ..