Long gone are the days when South African fans were satisfied with victory. As I said a couple of days ago, it is impossible to please everybody all of the time. The Proteas two nil up in the five match ODI series and there are as many questions being asked as congratulations being offered.

Young David Miller certainly looks the part of an international cricketer just two games into his career and South Africa still have one of the most potent bowling attacks in the world. Kallis and De Villiers would be the envy of most major nations in the middle order and Graeme Smith remains a formidable leader despite the nagging and often unmerited criticism from his detractors.

But the most remarkable success story in recent months, as far as I’m concerned, is Hashim Amla. Despite his undoubted talent, most fans still had their hearts in their mouths when he came to the crease for fear that his unusual technique would lead to an early demise.

Now, he brings to the crease a sense of certainty and reliability that makes all of us feel confident of a good start.  I can’t easily recall an opening partnership before Smith and Amla that inspired as much confidence as those to when they walk out together.

Having said all of that, and as much as I enjoyed the first two ODI victories against the West Indies, things aren’t perfect. They rarely are. I’m reluctant to speculate about what the “missing pieces” might be because, as I have said often before, speculation without first-hand knowledge – and from far away – is rarely helpful, either to the team or fans.

Some areas of experimentation are obvious to all of us, however, and it doesn’t take a genius to see that Loots Bosman’s power would be a great bonus if it can be incorporated into the XI and that somebody of similar destructive power would be useful behind Miller in the lower order.

I’m not sure if Roelof van der Merwe has convinced everybody of his credentials as the second spinner and no doubt the debate(s) about the second and third seamers will continue for a little while yet.

But for those of you dissatisfied with the team’s performance in the West Indies so far, just imagine how frustrated you might be feeling if the Proteas were losing in the course of building the team for the 2011 World Cup in the subcontinent.

I was quite surprised at the level of criticism they received for “only” reaching 300 during the second ODI in Antigua.  Whilst I understand that the final 10 overs looked a little bit pedestrian given how many wickets were left in hand, I’m not sure that too many teams, in any conditions, should be criticised too harshly for scoring at a run a ball over 50 overs!