South Africa will leave Pakistan with only a share of a Test series after losing both white-ball contests, including their first ODI series under coach Shukri Conrad. Given that they have also won just five out of 13 T20Is since July, and there is a World Cup looming in three months' time, it could be cause for concern. But there's a caveat.
Despite Conrad's assertion that South Africa would have their first-choice players available more often than not, the opposite has happened. A packed schedule, the need to prioritise some series over others and the inevitability of injuries has meant that South Africa have not always been at full strength. That was the case for both the T20I and ODI series in Pakistan and so the post-tour analysis is likely to focus more on individuals than the overall result.
This is what South Africa may have learnt:
De Kock is back for real
A four-ball one in Windhoek last month was not quite the way Quinton de Kock would have wanted to come back to the international game but he quickly found his old self, albeit in the longer white-ball game. De Kock was named player of the ODI series as he topped the run-charts with a century sandwiched between two fifties that served as a reminder of how vital he is at the top of the order.
No longer just a basher, de Kock was happy to let his young opening partner Lhuan-dre Pretorius take the lead while he dropped anchor and it worked a charm. The pair shared in three profitable opening stands and have given South Africa a good selection headache. Ryan Rickelton and Aiden Markram are the incumbents but it is difficult to see a situation where South Africa don't find a space for de Kock, who continues to work on his game.
"It's my first time playing white-ball cricket in Pakistan and I learnt a couple of things about my own game," he said on Saturday. "The wickets stayed low, reverse swing and there was a bit of a turn, so it was about how we adjusted to that."
De Kock will have a break before South Africa's white-ball series in India, which could prove decisive in whether he makes the T20 World Cup squad.
Breetzke's diminishing returns
Pakistan seemed to be Matthew Breetzke's favourite place to play cricket earlier this year when he scored 150 on debut at the start of a run of five successive fifty-plus scores. Breetzke was the world's leading run-getter after five ODI innings and the second-leading after eight but has since fallen to fifth after nine innings in what was a tough return, with additional responsibility.
He was named South Africa's stand-in captain and while he did a decent job in the field, his batting returns of 42, 17 not out and 16 were less than satisfactory. Breetzke was out to Abrar Ahmed on the two occasions he was dismissed - once trying a big shot and once on the forward defence - and like so many South Africans before him will want to work on his game play against legspin. In the third ODI, he wanted "to try and play as straight as possible with the variable bounce" but it proved trickier than he expected. Of course, Breetzke did not become a bad batter over the course of three matches but with a queue of top-order players knocking down the door, including Tony de Zorzi, his returns in this series may push him down the pecking order for now.
Nandre Burger's bowling
With the first-choice fast bowlers - Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen - rested, left-armer Nandre Burger stepped up and finished second to Abrar on the wicket-takers' charts. Four of his five wickets came in the second ODI, and three of those four in the powerplay, where he used the bouncer to excellent effect. Breetzke singled out Burger's "aggression," as a positive South Africa will take from this tour. Burger also found seam movement in the third match and sprinkled in slower-ball variations and has given South Africa an additional option to vary their attack.
Where are the next batch of spinners coming from?
Keshav Maharaj was rested for this series and his absence only seems to highlight his importance, but South Africa must find another tier of spinners to come after him. Donovan Ferreira had a forgettable tour with ball, bat and as a temporary T20I captain and George Linde was expensive which leaves left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin and legspinner Nqabayomzi Peter to assess. Fortuin was South Africa's most economical bowler of the ODIs, and conceded at 4.50 runs to the over, but was not particularly threatening while Peter, 23, demonstrated good control and is most likely to be part of South Africa's longer-term plans.
Playing in Pakistan is tough - for reasons other than the conditions
While almost all the South African players interviewed described the pitches as the most difficult thing to get used to in Pakistan, there were also other challenges that come with touring a country so unlike their own. South Africa cited last year's Bangladesh Test series as a tour that unified them like never before because they were confined to their hotel and this year's Pakistan visit may have had the same effect.
"You kind of get into a routine because you can't leave the hotel," de Zorzi said at a pre-match press conference. "So it's a bit of a grind on and off. It's almost just staying in that work mindset and only really focusing on cricket. There's nothing else to focus on. There's nothing else to do. Everything is a bit of a grind, but you kind of make peace with that. And anyone would be happy to do that grind. So you just have to remind yourself that you're lucky to be here and it's your job."