Ottis Gibson is more interested in how the relatively youthful Proteas squad will play against Zimbabwe on Sunday at 10am in Kimberley and not how many runs they score or wickets they take.
The Proteas coach says the nature of the opposition meant the emphasis was on the home team’s players to perform with the style and most importantly the right attitude against opponents of a lesser standing.
His squad will be led by Cape Cobras star JP Duminy in the absence of Faf du Plessis.
And of the game, Gibson says: “The first couple of games in Sri Lanka, we took a positive approach to the game, tried to score quickly.
“We were not thinking about the opposition, rather thinking about a style of play that we want to take forward.
“If someone comes in and adjusts quickly to that, that person is someone we are interested in taking forward with us.”
Gibson highlights how the national side faced a similar scenario last summer when he first joined last year.
He explains: “I was nervous last year when we played Bangladesh and everyone said it was ‘only Bangladesh’ but you still have to go out there and compete and play and we played very well.
“The message is the same [now] you can’t take any opposition in international sport for granted; those guys have their own reasons for coming here and wanting to do well and turn over their neighbours.
“We have to make sure, whether we have new names or not, that the attitude we bring to the games is exactly where we need to be or else I’m pretty sure we will get rolled over.”