Be brave, but temper that with caution

It suddenly seems very unlikely that we’ll learn anything new from the Proteas’ low-key one-day series against Zimbabwe unless something dramatic happens in Paarl today.

In fact, the only insight that’s been gathered to date is that Dale Steyn and Imran Tahir, the oldest members of the squad, still have much value to offer – even if the opposition has been limited.

But there is one interesting and potentially very important issue that needs to be addressed.

When South Africa returned from their tour of Sri Lanka in August, team management harped on about the attacking brand of cricket that was being played.

You couldn’t exactly disprove their statement as the Proteas certainly had shown intent.

So, it wasn’t particularly surprising that coach Ottis Gibson once again highlighted how his troops wanted to continue employing that strategy.

Now, it must be acknowledged that the pitches in Kimberley and Bloemfontein weren’t conducive to attacking, entertaining cricket.

However, what South Africa didn’t seem to be able to do is adapt to the conditions and respective match contexts.

Bloemfontein in particular was a very poor advertisement for the Proteas’ batting depth, especially in terms of judgment.

As they slumped to 101/7 – before being saved by Steyn’s remarkable, career-best 60 – at least four wickets were thrown away due to poor shots.

And this is where South Africa needs to be careful.

It might be useful to remind them of the pitfalls of dogmatically sticking to just a single plan, like in 2007’s World Cup semifinal against Australia, where Mickey Arthur and Graeme Smith preached “Brave Cricket” and the team promptly crashed to 27/5.

Former national coach Eric Simons, commentating for SuperSport, made a telling point during Wednesday’s broadcast.

He noted that the definition of attacking differs for each player.

Dean Elgar is a fighter and a nudger, not a free-flowing, easy stroke-player like Hashim Amla at the top of the order.

Chris Jonker is an attacking player but he can’t live and die by the sword.

Khaya Zondo has the shots but it’s not his nature to hit a six and then dance down the track again.

The point is, the Proteas need to determine what each player’s strength is and what he’s comfortable with.

Blanketing them under the guise of “attacking cricket” is asking for trouble.