After Durban, there was plenty to question. The batting, the decisions, the manner of a 214-run defeat. Australia had won comprehensively, and South Africa had contributed to their own difficulties.

Those criticisms were fair. So is the praise that follows.

To recover in Gqeberha and then win from behind at Newlands required good cricket over long periods against an exceptional opponent.

South Africa earned this victory by correcting their mistakes while the series was still on the line, against opponents who offered little room to get it wrong again.

1. The response tells you about the team

You learn something about a side when it loses badly. More often, you learn it in the next match.

South Africa could have allowed Durban to follow them through the series. There were enough loose dismissals and missed opportunities to occupy the mind, and Australia are an excellent side at keeping an opponent there.

Instead, the Proteas won in Gqeberha.

Then came another examination at Newlands. Australia led by 100 after the first innings, leaving South Africa to bat with the knowledge that every early wicket would bring the tourists closer to a series victory.

They recovered again.

That is the part I would take most encouragement from. Twice, South Africa found themselves needing a convincing response. Twice, they produced one. It is easy to talk about character after a win. Here, you could see exactly where it had been tested.

2. Bavuma’s runs came when the series needed them

There are hundreds you admire and hundreds you remember for what was at stake.

Bavuma’s 179 in Gqeberha belongs in the second category. South Africa were a Test down, their batting under scrutiny and another defeat away from losing the series. The captain gave them an innings around which they could win a match.

That is the standard by which a senior batsman should be judged. What was the situation when he took guard? What did the team need? How much better was their position when he finished?

Bavuma answered each question with his bat.

Newlands will command much of the attention, understandably so. But South Africa earned the chance to play a decider in Gqeberha, where their captain made the most important innings of his series.

3. Depth means little until someone uses it

On a team sheet, South Africa bat a long way down. At Newlands, they showed what that can mean in practice.

Ryan Rickelton and Wiaan Mulder added 154 for the sixth wicket. By then, Australia had done much of the work required to win the match. They had secured a first-innings lead and dismissed five South African batsmen.

Yet there were still two players at the crease prepared to spend hours making them do it all again.

Against Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, that takes considerable skill. You have to defend well enough to stay there, judge which balls offer runs and accept that the bowler will occasionally beat you.

Rickelton and Mulder managed those competing tasks superbly.

The top order still has work to do. But South Africa’s lower middle order gives them a chance to recover when things go wrong, and the means to make a good position formidable when things go right.

4. Respect Australia, but play the ball

Look at the names in that Australian attack. Look at the wickets, the experience and the matches they have won.

Then imagine having to bat against them with a series slipping away.

It would be understandable for a batsman to become preoccupied with the threat. South Africa’s best batting came when Rickelton and Mulder kept their attention on the task immediately in front of them.

There was no need to win an argument with the bowler. There was a need to survive his good deliveries and make proper use of his less accurate ones.

Starc finished with nine wickets in the match. South Africa won despite an outstanding performance from a world-class fast bowler.

That gives the victory weight. They had to play well enough to overcome quality. For batsmen still establishing themselves at this level, there are few more valuable experiences.

5. Opportunity has brought genuine competition

Marques Ackerman’s 95 and 62 deserve to remain part of the discussion long after the centuries and final-day wickets have been celebrated.

Those were valuable innings under pressure. They also gave the selectors evidence of what he can offer against a serious attack.

Simon Harmer supplied an even more emphatic case with ten wickets.

His performance should encourage South Africa to keep an open mind about the balance of their side. Seam bowling has served this country exceptionally well, but conditions must guide selection. At Newlands, an off-spinner was central to winning the match.

Injuries strike. Form changes. Different grounds ask different things of a team. South Africa will need options, and those options have to be trusted with meaningful opportunities.

This series showed the value of giving players that chance.

After Durban, the question was who would respond. By the end of Newlands, almost everyone had.

Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images