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JOHANNESBURG. — I have noted with interest the fall-out following the Proteas’ return from the tri-series in the Caribbean.

As someone who literally spent every day of that series working alongside them for SuperSport, I have some succinct comments to make.

I was also in a fortunate position to do some comparisons with the Australian side and observe some aspects of their inner workings. Let me state from the outset that both teams worked extremely hard in their preparation and impressed with their intensity.

That however counts for nothing if game-day performances are substandard.

The bottom line as I see it is quite simple. The Australians wanted it more. That has been a trademark of their national team for decades.

What needs to be worked out is how they consistently maintain that attitude. Two factors are abundantly clear. They continually dig deep for each other when required and their matches bristle with intensity. Throughout this series they had Justin Langer driving the ship as a coach. He was relaxed around the group in down time but every time he spoke, players listened intently. His observations were acute. Of course, he can talk from an enormous position of strength but is that not all part of the excellence deal?

The big difference in the South African set up is the younger and more inexperienced players can not tap into a coaching staff consisting of the ideal personnel who have done it all at international level. We must remember that senior stars also need reinforcement from time to time and some of Australia’s premier players will be the first to admit that.

It is not absolutely imperative to have been a successful international player to be a fine coach but it does help enormously if both boxes are ticked. Remember that not that long ago South Africa had giants of the game like Smith, Kallis and Boucher to help galvanise internal changeroom thoughts. — SuperSport.