While the Proteas beat England by 10 runs on Saturday in what was effectively a quarter-final, South Africa missed out on the semi-finals due to Australia having superior net run-rate.

The Proteas five-wicket loss to Australia was their only defeat at the World Cup and sadly it came back to haunt them.

There have been calls for the head of the Proteas coach, Mark Boucher, as the team just does not get to settle with one controversy following another.

Boucher in his turn, feels that the World Cup campaign was a bitter pill to swallow but believes that it was good for the team going forward, especially with another major tournament next year.

“Cricket changes very quickly as long as players within the system are willing to grow and be challenged, then I do believe we're heading in the right direction.

“Next year's World Cup will be quite exciting. Last year, we weren't even playing cricket, so it's good to see players being given the opportunities within our set-up.

“Our depth pool is quite big now and it's nice as a coach and selector to be able to select different guys and give them opportunities and hopefully see them push for top spots.

“It gives them some nice competition so we're heading in the right direction. We just need to be nice and patient and need to keep challenging the players and they need to keep challenging themselves.”

The 2022 ICC T20 World Cup will be staged in Australia.

The Proteas next face the Netherlands on 26 November in the first of three One-Day Internationals.

Morgan Piek/OFM Sport