Sometimes it works to go against conventional wisdom.
But seeing people do their own thing can also be frustrating.
As a laaitie, I was often shouted at and got lots of pak.
I was always told not to wear takkies to church under my choir robe. I would say “Jesus says come as you are”, then my mom would say “maar nie soos jy wil nie”.
And seeing the Proteas lose to Sri Lanka in their recent Test series reminded me of what my mom would say to me.
She would have said the same thing coach to Ottis Gibson at the end of the second match.
Spin was the deciding factor in the series and yet it the South Africans did pretty much everything to deny that the ball was turning out there.
Firstly, we batted all around the ball when it spat and spun our top order out and secondly, our spin bowlers were the only ones with success.
Keshav Maharaj came close to being the first South African to take all 10 wickets of an innings in the second Test.
It’s just a pity he had no support from another spinner on the park, even though Tabraiz Shamsi and Shaun von Berg were available.
It made no sense at all. So why was that decision made?
Probably on the strength of our pace attack, which, let’s face it, is one of the best on the planet.
Gibson was gambling on the fact that the ball would eventually reverse in the subcontinental conditions and vindicate his call.
But it didn’t and it left the Proteas not only humiliated, but also looking stupid.
The bowling effort will have to improve big-time in the upcoming limited-over series and the spinners must play a moerse part in that.
Ahead of the tour, CSA declared that this would be the chance for Maharaj and Shamsi to prove which one of the two will be the No.2 spinner in the ODI setup behind Imran Tahir.
The prize at the end of this five-match series will pencil their name in on next year’s World Cup squad list.
So here’s hoping that both of these manne get a fair crack at the Sri Lankans and perform like a spinner headed to the game's biggest tournament.
Batting-wise, we were all over the place too. An aggressive approach in the first Test saw the Proteas record their lowest post-isolation score.
Whether that can be put down to poor strategy or an inability to play spin will be revealed pretty soon, when the ODI series starts on Sunday.
After our 50-overs side was destroyed by the Indian spinners early this year, I’m suspecting that it’s the latter.
The Proteas have to get a grip on this side of the game.
With AB de Villiers retired, we need manne to lift their game and it’s great to see Reeza Hendricks get his call-up and hopefully make that long-awaited debut.
But right now, staatmaakers like Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock are off the boil and they need to recover their confidence and start making runs again.
And it’s time that JP Duminy and David Miller prove that they are the ODI specialists that they are billed as.
In fact, SA cricket as a whole as a lot to prove in the next two weeks.
But will we see them for what they are or for what they want to do as a team?