Proteas coach Rob Walter says there are a paar nuwe manne that put up their hands in their three-match ODI series against Ireland.
South Africa concluded their limited-overs trip to the United Arab Emirates on Monday night with a 69-run defeat to Ireland, but still managed to win the ODI series 2-1.
The final leg of the trip was their most successful, as they lost a three-match ODI series to Afghanistan 2-1 before playing to a 1-1 draw with Ireland in two T20I games.
Focusing on the three ODIs against Ireland, Walter believes newbies such as Tristan Stubbs, Lizaad Williams, Jason Smith and Ryan Rickelton all made their stemme dik.
The 31-year-old Williams, with seven ODI caps to his name, walked off with the Man of the Series award after claiming 11 wickets at an average of 11.27 with a best of 4/32.
Stubbs, 24, has the same amount of matches and finished as the highest runs-scorer in the series with 211 runs in three innings and a best of 112*.
Rickelton klapped 135 runs in three innings at an average of 45, while Kyle Verreynne scored 105 in two innings.
The 29-year-old Smith, meanwhile, scored 91 in the final match – only his second 50-over outing – despite the Proteas going down.
While the overall performances weren’t up to scratch without some key players in their squad, Walter says of his next-in-liners: “Our bowling unit bowled really well throughout the series and we saw some nice batting contributions from guys who are still early in their careers.
“Even though Tristan has been around for a while, in ODI cricket he is still very young…
“From a batting point of view, Jason Smith coming in under pressure and being able to bat throughout was a highlight. So there are little bits of positive stuff to take home with us…”
The Proteas now shift their focus to a two-Test series against Bangladesh at the end of the month.