Not six weeks after securing the first Ashes whitewash since 1921, Australia have lurched towards nothing less than a crisis of their own. They totter a single defeat away from losing their position at the top of the ICC one-day rankings and their prospects of retaining the World Cup are weaker than at any time in the past four years.

When Shaun Tait dropped a simple catch to reprieve Ed Joyce on six in Sydney on February 2, it set off a sequence of calamitous events. Joyce went on the make 107, England won their second game of the tour and Australia have suffered three more losses in their four matches since, the latest to New Zealand in Wellington yesterday.

Such a halt in momentum is concern enough without a mounting list of injuries providing a backdrop to this reversal. Andrew Symonds, who had surgery to repair a ruptured bicep, will miss the start of the World Cup, Brett Lee rates his own chances as no more than 50-50 and Michael Clarke has flown home for treatment on his hip.

Ricky Ponting, the captain, who is resting a back injury after undergoing cortisone injections on Monday, was playing golf in Sydney yesterday while his side suffered the first ten-wicket defeat in their history. New Zealand reached a winning 149 for no wicket with 23 overs to spare.

Mike Hussey, the acting captain, described the result as a “wake-up call” for the depleted team. But England had already rung the alarm bell when they won 2-0 in the finals of the Commonwealth Bank Series. Australia now stand only 0.38 points above South Africa in the official ratings and will drop into second place by losing either of the two remaining matches in the Chappell-Hadlee Series.

Australia and South Africa are in the same World Cup group, based in St Kitts, and their meeting on March 24 promises to be the outstanding fixture of the first phase.

Australia are in such a mess that they may land in the Caribbean with only 12 players available — at least for their first match against Scotland on March 14. Symonds will not feature until the South Africa contest at the earliest and then with grave reservations among the medical staff that his bravery would be bordering on recklessness.

The problem, as England encounter occasionally with Andrew Flintoff, is that Symonds fills two positions. If anything, his loss is more acute because he provides a spin option and is also a crack fielder. Brad Hogg may be a better slow bowler, but he occupies a place that Australia would rather fill with pace.

Adam Gilchrist, who is resting at home instead of playing in New Zealand, has said that he intends to miss the first three weeks of the competition around the birth of his third child. And Lee is such a fine one-day bowler that Australia will be reluctant to call in a replacement if he can recover for the Super Eight stage.

The injury to Lee is symptomatic of veering fortunes. He damaged ankle ligaments during fielding drills, almost echoing Glenn McGrath’s costly slip at Edgbaston in 2005. Although Lee will not require an operation, no time frame has been put on his recovery. He will be reassessed in a week.

On top of the injuries is a feeling that Australia have picked players on reputation. McGrath was relatively expensive in the Commonwealth Bank Series and has become a liability in the field.

To think that a month ago John Buchanan complained that opponents were failing to provide his side with the challenges they needed before the World Cup. Ponting was right to suggest that his coach was tempting fate. Buchanan must be able to detect the Schadenfreude from the other side of the world.