With Mickey Arthur and Graeme Smith at the helm for the Proteas one always got the impression that the duo believed whole heartedly in their tactics in limited-overs cricket - to a fault. Unable to adjust to the conditions or opposition, the South Africans floundered time and time again at major tournaments.

Arthur is now a thing of the past but if South Africa's performances in the Super Eights section of the World Twenty20 are anything to go by their propensity for making tactical blunders are not.

Exhibit A: South Africa vs England in Barbados
With a slow track on offer the South Africans stuck to their familiar formula, one spinner and four quick bowlers. Standing on the sidelines being interviewed having cracked the Proteas attack to all ends in an innings of 53 off 33 balls, Kevin Pietersen remarked that South Africa had certainly 'missed a trick' by not playing a second spinner. South Africa's single spinner Johan Botha picked up one wicket for 15 in his four overs. England's spin twins of Michael Yardy and Graeme Swann dismissed half the Proteas batting line-up during their combined eight overs as Smith's men crashed to a comprehensive 39-run defeat.

Exhibit B: South Africa vs Pakistan in St Lucia
Having seen the error in their ways in Barbados, South Africa adjusted their tactics and picked two spinners for their must-win clash against Pakistan, with Roelof van der Merwe replacing Morne Morkel. The only problem was that two things had changed - the pitch and the opposition. While the track at the Beausejour Stadium still had something in it for the spinners, the Pakistani batsmen are masters at playing slow bowling; fast, short bowling however are not their forte - the kind of bowling Morkel specialises in. Salman Butt was the first man dismissed, bounced out by Dale Steyn. It wasn't the short stuff that counted later on, but Smith will be forced to take note that his spinners picked up only one wicket between them.

As captain Smith will - and should - take the brunt of the criticism, but questions need to be asked about some of his senior players. AB de Villiers demonstrated perfectly how the South Africans fail to learn through experience; the right-hander attempted the 'Dil-scoop' on four occasions, the first was top edged in front of short fine leg. The second time he missed the ball completely. The third time he top edged it over the head of short fine leg. The fourth time - having just hit some superb straight sixes - he got another top edge and this time he found the waiting gloves of keeper Kamran Akmal.

There just seems to be no common sense in the South African camp; they react to situations rather than planning for them, they seem so certain of their tactics yet it's those tactics that always seem to let them down at key moments.

After South Africa crashed out of the Champions Trophy last year, having faced a barrage of questions regarding his tactics in previous games, Graeme Smith's line in defeat was 'no excuses'; in St Lucia on Monday night 'no excuses' was again the phrase of the moment. Smith is right there are no excuses to be made, but the question now is will changes be made to ensure the Proteas don't find themselves with 'no excuses' come next year's World Cup? If the press release sent out by the Proteas media manager entitled 'The end of a Proteas' era' is anything to go by there will be, but just how high will those changes go?