England Head Coach Trevor Bayliss has offered words of encouragement to Alex Hales as the Nottinghamshire opener fights for his place at the top of England's Test order.
The 26-year-old opener, who averaged 17 in his debut red ball series with one half-century, can expect competition for his place at the top of the order once the county season gets underway in April.
However, coupled with the Nottinghamshire man’s record in white ball cricket where he has scored two centuries and nine fifties, Bayliss has seen enough to be positive about the 26-year-old’s future prospects at the highest level.
"I thought the first couple of games, even though he didn't score a lot of runs in Durban, he looked quite comfortable at the crease and he looked like he belonged," said Bayliss.
"He's one of those guys who has shown what he can do at this level. Whether it is as an opener or somewhere else in the order, he is certainly a guy with a lot of talent.”
Bayliss stated that Hales wouldn’t be alone in terms of entering the early rounds of the County Championship with plenty to prove.
However, the Australian does admit to believing that those in possession of places are the best players available to England.
"We're by no means the finished article,” he said. “There is some very good talent in the team, but there are a few rough edges to knock off as well and that will take some time.
"I think that is a sign to everyone else in county cricket that, 'If I come out and score runs early in the season, there are possibilities there'.
"There are four or five matches before that first Test against Sri Lanka. Those matches will be very important for some of those players.
“I don't think we're far away from it to be honest,” the 53-year-old added.
“Yes, I'm sure there would be a few players in this team who would have liked to have done a little bit better in this series.
“I think those guys have shown glimpses of what they are capable of and at the moment if you look at the county scene they are our best performing players, so they certainly have some work to do."
The 2015 season saw dramatic last-gasp four day victories, thrilling limited-overs contests and an historic Investec Ashes Test, all in the unique surroundings of Trent Bridge.
Next season, we’d wager, will be no less enthralling and frankly we’d hate for you to miss out.