Head coach Mark Boucher pondered over his team's positives as South Africa ended the three-match ODI series against world champions England with a drawn 1-1 scoreline. 

The Proteas dominated the first game in Cape Town and narrowly lost the last match in Johannesburg; sandwiched between them was a rain-abandoned draw in Durban. But a young, inexperienced side led by new captain Quinton de Kock did enough for Boucher and the management to be optimistic regarding its future. 

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"There are a lot of good things that have happened," Boucher told reporters on Sunday (February 9). "There are a couple of things we need to work on, obviously, but it is quite difficult to judge over two games."

The three-match T20I series beginning Wednesday (February 12) followed by a limited-overs assignment against Australia, Boucher reckons, will tell a lot more about his team's resolve. "We will use the next three games against Australia [in series of three T20s and as many ODIs from February 21 to March 7] to find some answers and ask some questions," he said. 

The biggest positive for South Africa was how well De Kock took to captaincy in the 50-over version. "We always knew 'Quinny' had a very smart cricketing brain," Boucher said. "He's had a couple of different field placings which I thought were good - he's thinking out of the box."

"'Quinny' is unique and I think the uniqueness of him can work wonders in a dressingroom like this because we've got a unique set-up as well," he added. "So I'm happy with the way he has been so far and he will probably grow to be a lot better as well." 

Boucher played down the workload concerns regarding De Kock despite his multiple responsibilities. "A lot of people questioned [MS] Dhoni when he was captaining India and he had a great captaincy record," the coach said. "'Quinny' enjoys being in the game. Sometimes he sits in the dressing room during a Test match and he gets really irritated because he wants to be doing something all the time. I think he really enjoys it. 

"The off-the-field stuff might get to him a bit. We're going to have to help him in that regard. But, certainly, on the field he leads well. He made some good captaining decisions and off the field he is pretty chilled. He is unique and that can be good for young players. I do think it can be sustainable."

Doubts remain over the future of underfiring Faf du Plessis, though, as he hasn't been picked since the end of the Test series, but publicly expressed his desire to bid farewell at the end of the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year. Whether or not Du Plessis comes back when the Aussies arrive later this month remains to be seen. 

"That was always the plan and Faf is still one of our best T20 players," Boucher said. "We feel he needs a bit of a break away from the game."

"There is going to be a lot of cricket leading up to a [T20] World Cup so [we'll take] any opportunity we get to give guys a bit of rest and give other guys opportunities to see what they're all about."

(Inputs from Cricbuzz)