Walter not breaking out the bubbly yet for Proteas: 'Played nice cricket, but not our best'

Proteas white-ball coach Rob Walter isn't about to prematurely pop the proverbial bubbly over his charges' promising upswing in the limited overs formats, particularly ODIs.

While a return of five victories from eight starts since the start of the year (the first ODI against the Windies in East London was washed out) represents an above average return, given the team's patchy form in the ICC Super League over the past few years, the ceiling is still much higher, according to Walter.

Indeed, the South Africans are yet to produce what can be described as a complete performance and perhaps, pertinently, need to still find their mojo in the bowling department.

But that's no real cause for concern.

"We've played some nice cricket, but by no means our best cricket and that's the exciting part," Walter said after securing a 2-0 series win over the Netherlands on Sunday, which puts the Proteas on the brink of automatic qualification for the World Cup.

"Obviously spirits are high. It's always good to get a series victory and, most importantly, the 20 Super League points in the context of the World Cup is vital. [Our showing on Sunday was indicative perhaps of where we are] as we played a portion of the game well, but were also off the mark in other areas. So, we've got work to do."

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Nonetheless, the interest shown in the team in terms of stadium attendance this summer suggests that they are slowly clawing back lost prestige among fans and skipper Temba Bavuma has been at the heart of that effort.

He has been quietly authoritative as leader and piled on the runs too, including two centuries and a ninety.

"Temba's a wonderful human being.