Can SA trust its snipers?

The average South African cricket fan might doubt the Proteas' ability to defend totals, or its bowlers' ability to deliver the goods in the final stages of a limited-overs innings. But bowling coach Allan Donald has no such concerns.

On Sunday, in the fourth of five ODI matches against the West Indies, the Proteas failed to defend their total after posting 262/8 and West Indies won by one wicket.

Even when the Proteas have won, they often struggle to rein in the team chasing their total.

With the Cricket World Cup starting next month, and the Proteas' regular disappointment in this event, creating a rock-solid defence of a batting total is absolutely essential.

Of the four matches the Proteas have played against the West Indies, it was only in the third in East London - where they dismissed the Windies for 122 all out - that the Proteas' bowlers looked convincing.

The final match will be played in Centurion tomorrow.

In the opening two games, the Duckworth and Lewis method conspired to put pressure on the visitors, who batted last.

The Proteas batsmen - AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla in particular - have been the stuff of legend.

In their first innings at Kingsmead in Durban, South Africa posted 8-279 before rain cut matters short.

This kind of scoring meant that West Indies batsmen had no choice but to take big gambles. Nevertheless, the bowlers struggled to contain the Windies, who scored 51 runs in the first six overs.

But Donald is not perturbed.

He said: "I'm not worried at all. I know that these guys can play."

If that's the case, what happened at St George's Park?

He said: "I always thought it would be a bit scrappy. I thought we started magnificently. I thought that our intensity in that first nine overs was right on the money.

"I thought Morné [Morkel] bowled very quickly and magnificently. Kyle Abbott showed again what a class act he is in filling Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander's boots.

"From that perspective, I thought we blew them down in the first 10 overs. One would have thought we had the job done."

Donald admitted there needed to be greater consistency as the team seemed to have a good start in the first 10 overs before fading away in the middle and struggling with their bowling at the death, particularly without the likes of Steyn.

Said Donald: "In a World Cup situation and those big pressure games we simply cannot afford those sort of things. Those are game-changers."

But Donald, who played in four World Cups from 1992 until his retirement at the end of the 2003 World Cup, was adamant these wrinkles would be ironed out .

Without revealing too much of their tactics for the World Cup, Donald stressed that the Proteas will mix things up bowling-wise.

He said: "We want to be unpredictable. There's no set plan for who's going to [bowl at the death].

"We need to be that team that mixes it up very well."

But new bowling consultant Charl Langeveldt has previously stated that those who bowl at the death needed specialised practice, just as finishing batsmen do .

Over the past few days, the bowling coach said the team had been bowling to AB de Villiers.

In addition to taking on one of the finest batsmen in the world, the bowlers are also receiving advice from former Protea and acclaimed coach Gary Kirsten.