Bowling coach Charl Langeveldt said he was impressed by the maturity with which a young, inexperienced South African attack went about its business throughout the home summer, especially the limited-overs matches where the team held its own against England, Australia. 

Langeveldt, 45, who played 6 Tests, 72 ODIs and 9 T20Is for the Proteas, saw from close quarters how the likes of Anrich Nortje really progressed under the watch of new coaching staff led by Mark Boucher. 

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"It was never going to easy. We (the new coaching staff) started with the Test series against England in December and we didn't have enough time as a team to gel," Langeveldt was quoted as saying by cricket.co.za. 

"England being England and having a settled team with guys who have played a lot more Test cricket together than us, we had a lot of youngsters coming into the team and into the set-up, that was really hard. The guys played well in patches but as a unit we just couldn't get it together." 

"We got better in the limited-overs tours. Lungi Ngidi was excellent, Temba (Bavuma) and Quinny (Quinton de Kock) were also good. Against Australia Lungi again with the ball was fantastic and then Janneman was outstanding. Overall we were a lot better," he added. 

Those limited-overs performances - drawing the ODIs against world-champions England, competing in T20Is and whitewashing Australia 3-0 - really augur well for South Africa. 

"I really enjoyed how we competed as a young bowling attack at an international level. Anrich, Lungi, (Lutho) Sipamla, (Tabraiz) Shamsi, they all stepped up very well. All-round everyone chipped in." 

Where we came from starting in December and where we ended up, I think Cricket South Africa can be really proud of what they did on a domestic level to get these players through," added Landeveldt. 

"That's where these players come from and they showed a lot of maturity which is a big plus for us going forward."

On a personal front, Langveldt is delighted to be working with his countrymen once again after leaving the Bangladeshi set-up late last year on being recalled home by Boucher, Graeme Smith, his former captain and the current director of cricket, and CSA CEO Jacques Faul.  

"It's been an interesting time coming back from Bangladesh," he said. "It's always nice to coach your country." 

"I think when it came to making the deal back then, Jacques Faul (Chief Executive Officer) and Graeme Smith were brilliant behind the scenes making it possible for the transfer to come through to South Africa."

"The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) were also excellent and they were brilliant in releasing me."

(Inputs from cricket.co.za)