Proteas assistant coach Charl Langeveldt says South African bowlers are struggling to handle the pressure.
The national team’s bowling coach believes the reason for this is that the players don’t get to bowl in pressure situations on the domestic circuit.
Langeveldt’s bowling attack came under scrutiny during the 2-1 T20I series defeat to England after they failed to defend big totals set by the batsmen.
Heading into the three-match series against Australia - starting at the Wanderers on Friday night - Langeveldt says: “[The series was] disappointing from a bowling perspective.
“In saying that, not a lot of guys get into that position in domestic cricket and that’s a concern for me.
“The big thing is we have to learn from it.
“In World Cups you are going to get a lot of games like that.
“And for me the concern is domestic cricket around the country - close games aren’t what it used to be.”
Langeveldt believes that the bowlers are equipped with the necessary tools to perform their tasks.
He adds: “[The challenge is] to get guys to execute under pressure - you can practise in the nets, once you’re under pressure it is a different thing.
“It’s difficult to coach that - he [the bowler] needs to figure it out [on his own].
“You can give him the tools, [but] he needs to use the tool.”