The biggest difficulty in writing about the Proteas during an ICC world event is the danger of repeating oneself! How many times have we spoken about past failures, and how many more times can we contemplate doing it in the future?

I never really enjoyed media speculation when I was a player because I often felt that journalists and former players who were doing the speculating were not close enough to the team to understand how much effort and hard work was being put into the job. And now here I am, in exactly the same position.

So the least I can do is try not to speculate but merely "observe". The first game against India witnessed a poor bowling performance and a brilliant batting effort, especially by Suresh Raina. Often the two go hand in hand, of course, and there is no doubt that the brilliant left-hander was helped by a wayward seam bowling in the final five overs.

But I particularly enjoyed the way Graeme Smith and the rest of the team reacted to that defeat and also to the way they handled their must-win match against Afghanistan. There must have been a few nerves and there was talk about a potential humiliation, but all the reaction from the team, at least publicly, was both positive and calm.

The performance against New Zealand was as slick and confident as anybody could have hoped for. Sometimes a team just cannot do enough to satisfy everybody. A massive victory over Afghanistan was almost disregarded because of their underdog status, and a comfortable victory over the Black Caps – perennial achievers in these events - was written off by some people because of their perceived ‘under-performance’!

I can't remember how many great men told me in the early part of my career that you cannot be held responsible for the composition of the XI who play against you. But you can take some credit for the way they perform!

So much emphasis in T20 cricket seems to be placed on the batsmen to score "enough" runs, or to reach a "par" score. In both cases it seems to me that the emphasis is placed on the quality of the wicket, weather conditions and the speed of the outfield. I would have thought that the most important ingredient is the quality of the bowling attack!

I was amused when commentators questioned whether South Africa's 139 would be enough against Afghanistan. Of course it was! As much as I appreciated continuity in team selection when I was a player, I can't help feeling that it's a good idea for South Africa to have used almost everyone in the squad during this tournament. We almost always had a match XII and three reserves in my day, but if all 15 players in the squad are good enough to be competing for a starting place, then perhaps that is the way forward.

Hopefully you are all as excited about the next couple of games, and a possible semi-final, as I am?!