Another loss, but there's light at the end of South Africa's tunnel

South Africa's players huddled so tightly together on Lahore's outfield on Thursday that you would have struggled to smuggle a team sheet between them.

Heinrich Klaasen spoke earnestly, hands slicing through evening air heavy with dew to punctuate his points. His players listened intently. David Miller made a significant contribution to the conversation. Klaasen handed a cap to debutant Jacques Snyman, who received it as if he had been given the keys to the car of his dreams.

Eyes locked. Shoulders overlapped. Heads nodded to the unmistakable rhythm of agreement. Even from the other hemisphere you could feel the unity. There was heat in that huddle, which was more a hug.

For South Africans weary of turning on their televisions to see what new hell has befallen the side in Pakistan, they were the picture of a team as opposed to a collection of individuals. It helped that none of them had played in the Tests, and so didn't bring baggage from Karachi and Rawalpindi, where South Africa were almost as good at beating themselves as Pakistan were at winning. Of the XI who had played in South Africa's previous T20I, against England at Newlands in December, only Reeza Hendricks, Lutho Sipamla and Tabraiz Shamsi were in the team. Another good thing: England won that series 3-0.

Even so, South Africa took 200 T20I caps into