{For South Africa, the tri-series in the Caribbean ended in the same sorry way it has so many times before. With “a lot of disappointment.” AB de Villiers said that after his team was knocked out after the round-robin stage.}

In the bigger picture, this series did not really matter. The next major 50-over event is a year off. But after South Africa had tumbled from No. 1 to No. 6 in the Test rankings, and were booted out of the World T20 before the semi-finals, 50-over cricket was the only thing going right for them. Until now.

“It’s difficult to put a smile on your face after a horrible performance like that,” de Villiers said after their 100-run loss to West Indies on Friday. “There’s definitely a belief in the camp that we can win from any position and make it work from anywhere. It’s sad that we couldn’t do that today and in this series. When it mattered most, we couldn’t pull through. That’s very disappointing.”

A new season looms, with 11 Tests, including tours to Australia and New Zealand, and a Champions Trophy next July. Considering South Africa are back on square one of their rebuilding phase, here are three things they need to focus on to put things right.

Coaching staff

Though de Villiers threw his support behind Russell Domingo, calls for the sacking of South Africa’s head coach have only increased.

Under Domingo’s tenure over the last three years, they had to settle for an 8-8 win-loss record in Tests but enjoyed have had a better time in limited-overs cricket – 39 wins from 65 ODIs and 20 wins from 35 T20Is.

But the wins that really mattered can be counted on two hands: the final of a tri-series in Harare against Australia, the 2015 World Cup quarter-final against Sri Lanka, the three in October to beat India in India, and a hat-trick of victories over England in February to bounce back from 0-2 down.

Despite the addition of specialist coaches, South Africa seem to lack for both confidence and a cohesive game plan. Domingo has with him former Test cricketers as fast bowling, spin bowling and batting coaches in Charl Langeveldt, Claude Henderson and Neil McKenzie respectively. So there is no shortage of experience at the highest level.

Is it just a matter of change then? CSA has the option to replace Domingo before his contract expires at the end of April, but for a lasting solution, they need to also find a way to incorporate an outsider’s perspective. South Africa no longer have a sports psychologist or motivational guru like Mike Horne in their ranks. And since Michael Hussey’s short stint as batting consultant, they have not had the benefit of working with someone who hasn’t come up their own system.

The declining Rand makes it more difficult to attract overseas coaches, but with CSA recently adding a new sponsor, Standard Bank, to their books, it may be worth spending some of the money for this purpose. Though there may be danger of too many cooks, South Africa’s broth seems to need whatever spice it can get.

Captaincy

As good as de Villiers is, captaincy seems to weigh on him, especially in the shorter format. His disappointment over a loss is often nothing more than raw emotion, which is touching, but not problem-solving. The number of times he admits to just not knowing what went wrong is enough to suggest South Africa may need someone more astute.

De Villiers is so often assisted by Faf du Plessis and Hashim Amla that it is fair to say South Africa captain in committee, which would mean any of the three could assume the label. But Amla has asked not to have it attached to him too often to make him a viable candidate and du Plessis has had issues with injury and form.

So it seems the only way forward for South Africa is to find a way to take better care of de Villiers. They could appoint a mentor for him – Graeme Smith, perhaps – or send him to some form of leadership training.

They should also groom a successor, because it may not be too long before de Villiers walks away. There was suggestion in some local media that he was so distraught after the 2015 World Cup semi-final loss that he considered stepping down. His own utterances about needing rest throughout the previous season have led to questions over his commitment, and with Test captaincy also thrust on him, there is a danger that he might consider winding his career down under less stress. Like playing T20 cricket around the world.

Selection clarity

The worst kept secret in South African sport is that the four codes that were sanctioned by the minister – cricket, rugby, athletics and netball – have signed memorandums of understanding to confirm their commitment to change. That means they have agreed to put transformation targets close to the top of their agendas, which is not inherently a bad thing, but it will have wider implications that can no longer be ignored.

For South Africa to meet the target – 60% representation – they need to field seven players of colour. And they did on two occasions in the tri-series. They even had eight players of colour once. But in their remaining three matches, that number came down to six, which is likely to have a major impact on whether their ban to host major tournaments is lifted.

CSA have made clear their aim to comply with the minister’s requirements as far as possible. It is also worth mentioning that the players of colour selected into the XI for the tri-series merited it. Even JP Duminy, who has not scored a fifty in 10 completed innings, was as out of form as de Villiers.

The question now is how the team plans to meet transformation targets without compromising on its balance. South Africa were a batsman short in the Caribbean. Their reserves – first Rilee Rossouw, and then, Dean Elgar – were both white and including them would have come at the cost of Duminy or Farhaan Behardien – both players of colour. South Africa could have sacrificed an allrounder, perhaps even the in-form Chris Morris, to lengthen the batting line-up, but that would have left them short in the bowling department.

Morne Morkel was benched for two legs of the series – when South Africa fielded more players of colour – and only included for the Barbados games – when they fell short of their transformation targets. His bounce may have been wasted on the slower surfaces in Guyana and St Kitts anyway, but the upshot was he was short on game time and could not find rhythm when it was needed.

This is the reality facing South African sport at the moment, but it might help them if there was greater openness and honesty about team selection, which in turn could help the understanding of what is trying to be achieved.

Identifying a successor to AB de Villiers is crucial to South Africa's long-term plans