'To win in Australia is very rewarding' – Ottis Gibson

South Africa won the three-match one-day international series 2-1 as well as the one-off Twenty20 International during their tour of Australia and Gibson said that winning without key players like Duminy and Amla was especially pleasing.

"It is always good to come to Australia and win," Gibson said. "Australia by nature are very competitive. To come here without some of our key men and win is very rewarding."

With the ICC Men's World Cup 2019 less than a year away, South Africa have been trying out different combinations as part of "a mission of discovery", and Gibson now feels that the team have found answers for some of the key questions that faced them ahead of the World Cup.

"It has been an interesting year," said Gibson, who was appointed South Africa's coach at the end of August. "We have been on this mission of discovery since I started, we had 16 months to plan for the World Cup.

"We have played a lot of different people trying to find different combinations and it feels like we are finding some good solutions to some of the questions that we have had. All in all it has been an interesting first couple of months in charge.

"Around this mission of discovery; when you find some of the stuff you are looking for, you need to start implementing it. That is what we have done with the bowling attack, the attack has been outstanding."

And so it has been. Dale Steyn, returning from injury, impressed with a Player of the Match performance in the first ODI and formed a formidable partnership with Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi.

"The bowling led us brilliantly with Dale back to his best, bowling quickly, aggressively and taking wickets," pointed out Gibson.

"Lungi and KG also showed some real maturity, and Imran Tahir has always been our No.1, we have left him out in a couple of series to give (Tabraiz) Shamsi some experience, but he proved again on wickets that didn’t necessarily suit him that he can have an impact on the game."

The batting was good too with the likes of David Miller, the Player of the Series, Reeza Hendricks and Aiden Markram stepping up, in addition to the captain, Faf du Plessis. Gibson, however, believes there are still a few issues to sort but the return of experienced pros like Amla and Duminy should help things.

"There are still one or two questions around the batting that need to be answered but for the most part the bowling and the fielding this series went up a notch," Gibson said.

"A fit and in-form Hashim will be a huge plus for us. The way JP played in Sri Lanka was great, he has had his surgery and we are hoping he will be fit again soon.

"Those two coming back in will make us even stronger. There are still a few questions in terms of batting but we know that if we have all of our batsmen fit those questions will be answered."