Once again questions around the Proteas bowling attack have cropped up.
It’s worrying that an attack can bowl a team out for 112 in one game and in the next they are smashed for 280-odd in 46 overs.
Obviously, it’s all about the inexperience of some of the players who are still finding their feet on the international stage.
We all know that Kagiso Rabada is the real deal, while Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo and Dwaine Pretorius have been called in with Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel all recovering from injury.
But when you look at that seam department, the leader is a 21-year-old.
The other experienced campaigner in the attack is Wayne Parnell. There’s always questions around his consistency.
With many of them being allrounders, it must be tough to get the balance in the team right when the attack is blunted or plundered in the way Martin Guptill did on Wednesday morning.
They just could not find an answer for the dangerous Kiwi, who moered them. Once Guptill got going, it was as if they lost their way.
They suddenly forgot that there was another batsman at the other end of the pitch.
Most of the South African batsmen also struggled to get their innings going and they could have used the problems they experienced to get the Kiwis out.
This will be playing on the minds of the selectors with the decider tomorrow.
It’s a moerse game in the context of SA’s development as a squad.
One, they need to bounce back from a very disappointing performance.
It will be massive for their confidence to find their way out of the dogbox they put themselves.
Two, they need to find a plan for each of the bowlers and who they will pick.
I have pointed out before that these new bowlers have not found their niche yet.
The reason way Rabada, Philander and Steyn do so well together is because they are all different types of bowlers.
Many of the allrounders we have now don’t have enough variation. Maybe it’s also time that Cobras star Dane Paterson to get his shot.
And finally, this is a deciding game.
It’s a must-win and it will tell us whether these players can finally take us out of the “choking” age.
With the Champions Trophy coming up in June, this is the perfect opportunity for these players to show that they can keep a cool head and win games when it counts.
It’s difficult to recreate the tension and pressure of a knockout game.
But this is as close as it will get before the real thing.