Cape Town - The Proteas women, semi-finalists at the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 in Bangladesh, are being left to ponder their failed campaign in India in 2016.
And, according to captain Mignon du Preez, inconsistency was their biggest problem throughout the tournament.
The Proteas were knocked out at the group stages after losses to Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.
South Africa's only win at the tournament came against minnows Ireland, and in the end it was their inability to score runs at crucial times that cost them.
"One of the commentators made the comment … that the one thing we were consistent at was being inconsistent," Du Preez said upon her team's arrival back in South Africa.
"And that is unfortunately exactly how it was. We never seemed to get everything clicking at the same time."
Du Preez acknowledged that the batting was a concern throughout the competition.
"I don’t think it’s that we don’t have plans just our execution and not adapting to our plans as quickly as we’d like," she said.
"A lot of lessons learnt and I think we can only use these stumbling blocks as stepping stones moving forward.
"We’ve got a lot of young talent in the team and it will only make us stronger."
Coach Hilton Moreeng said he had expected more going into the tournament.
"Overall it’s disappointing. Despite all the hard work that was put in before the tournament it just didn’t happen for us," he said.
"It hurts because of everything we’ve put in … we had high expectations."