South Africa’s David Miller after completing his 50 against Zimbabwe, on Saturday

Bloemfontein: South Africa have been forced to experiment this series, with Jacques Kallis’s calm head missing from the top of the order, and captain Graeme Smith unable to rely on the menace of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel with the ball due to a slew of injuries.

But an authoritative 64-run win in the first one-day International against Zimbabwe, here, has eased worries about South Africa’s second string, and Smith urged the newer members of the squad to make the most of their opportunities and “make those positions their own”.

“You’ve got two guys [Morkel and Steyn]”, explained Smith.

“One has bounce and he can hit 145 km/h, the other has swing and can hit 140 to 150km/h. They are wonderful assets to have. At the moment we don’t have that, but it’s an opportunity for guys to still get their skills right.

“Some of these guys are going to be performing in the next games, and when those guys are back and fit these guys will be looking to stake claims, so it’s important that they show their worth.”

While Smith made sure to mention David Miller’s expressive half-century — which came from just 30 balls and included five fours and two enormous sixes — he held special praise for the stellar knock from Colin Ingram.

He became the first South African — and the sixth batsman overall — to strike a century on ODI debut and his aggressive 124 boosted South Africa’s total well out of reach.

“I think he [Ingram] was pretty nervous walking in, but he remained calm and stuck to his game plan. He’s done a lot of work at domestic level, and he was able to bring that here. He trusted himself out there and that’s an important mindset to have. If you put the work in, it’s about going in there and allowing yourself to trust yourself, and I think that was quite evident today.”

Smith confirmed that South Africa will be without Morkel’s services at least until the final game of the series in Benoni on Friday and suggested there were times at which South Africa’s replacement bowlers let Zimbabwe’s batsmen dictate terms.